29The Systematic Demonization of Medieval Witchcraft

by Rhiannon Anderson

Throughout the Middle Ages ecclesiastical authorities looked downupon the practice of sorceiy and witchcraft.’ These authorities viewedunorthodox traditions as mere superstition practiced by the “simpleminded,” and thus were able to escape severe punishment. The CanonEpiscopi, originating in the ninth century, condenmed the belief in witchesas heretical in itself and remained the official and accepted doctrine of theChristian Church until the thirteenth century.2 It was not until the latefifteenth centuiy that the traditional images of “cunning men and women”were fully demonized and transfonned into diabolical sorcerers orwitches. In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII proclaimed disbelief in witches asheretical—a complete reversal of the previous papal views held onwitchcraft.3 Ecclesiastical authorities no longer viewed witches asignorant practitioners of practical magic, instead believing them to be inleague with the Devil by attending the sabbat, participating in orgies,murdering children, and conspiring to overthrow Christianity. Thewritings of churchmen, inquisitorial handbooks, confessions of theaccused, and visual representations of the witch all helped to reinforce thisdemonization. Witches became arch-heretics and the Christian Churchbegan actively to pursue them during the fourteenth century with the HolyRoman Inquisition.

This essay will examine the change in witch rhetoric and wiltelucidate why the demonic stereotype of the witch was developed, as wellas explain why the shift occurred when it did. The witch stereotype wascreated as an attempt to eradicate unorthodox practices and beliefs fromChristian society. More specifically, the consolidation of Christiandoctrine required the creation of an identity, modeled along the lines ofother deviant groups, to justify the persecution of said witches and theelimination of their pre-Christian traditions. The development of this

The use of the terms “sorcerer” and “witch” will be used interchangeably throughout thisessay and refer specifically to both males and females who partook in the practice of preChristian traditions of magic.” Before the fourteenth century, these practitioners of magic wereoften referred to as sorcerers or magicians. However, with the development of the witchstereotype, they became lumped together and termed “witches.”2 Regino of PrOm, “A Warning to Bishops, the Canon Episcopi (ca. 906),” in Witchcraft inEurope, 400-1700: a Documentary History, edited by Alan Kors and Edward Peters(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2001), 60-63. The Canon Episcopi has beenattributed to the Council of Ancyra, an ecclesiastical assembly held in 314. For more on theorigins of this canon law, see Brian P. Levack, The Witchcraft Sourcebook (New York:Routledge, 2004), 33.Pope Innocent III, “Summis desiderantes affeclibus, 1484,” in The Malleus Maleficarum ofHeinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, translated by Montague Summers (Dover Publications:New York, 1971), xliii-xlv.

30 • Ex Post Facto XVIdemonic image and subsequent persecution of witches occurred later thanother marginal groups because the Church remained focused on thesegments of society deemed immediate threats. However, once Churchleaders purged these groups from the Christian community, they focusedtheir energy on the perceived enemy from within.

Many scholars have written on the phenomena of witchcraft duringthe Middle Ages, but none have explicitly linked the birth of the witchmyth to the idea that an identity was needed in order to persecute thosewith marginal belief systems and unorthodox practices. In his seminalbook Europe ‘s Inner Demons, Norman Cohn traced the formation ofbeliefs behind the infamous sixteenth and seventeenth century witchhunts.4 He argued that the witch-craze of the early modem period resultedfrom the combination of three elements: the actual belief in and practice ofmagic; an increasing consciousness of the Devil, which made people morealert for his human agents; and the idea of an organized sect exemplifiedby other heretical groups, such as the Waldensians or Fraticelli. Inaddition, he demonstrated that most accusations made against witchesduring the late fifteenth century were similar to those made against otherunpopular minority sects since the Roman Empire. Furthermore, Cohnargued that no sect ofwitches existed and that the charges were false.5

Other scholars who have contributed to understanding the origins ofthe demonical witch stereotype include Jeffrey Burton Russell, RichardKeickhefer, and Edward Peters. In Witchcraft in the Middle Ages, Russellestablished the relationship between the ideas of heresy and the emergenceof witchcraft.6 He argued that the recognition of human wickednesscontributed to the construction of diabolical witchcraft. Kieckhefer’sstudies have focused mainly on the theme of two distinct sources ofwitchcraft—learned and popular.7 He described both learned and folkmagic and he covered their persecution during the Middle Ages, providinga useful chronological calendar of witch trials from 1300-1500. Petersinvestigated changing theological views regarding the practice of magicfrom late Antiquity to the early sixteenth century in his book, TheMagician, the Witch, and the Law.8 He argued that demonical traitsattributed to the sorcerer and witch led to the great witch hunts of thesixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Norman Cohn, Europe’s Inner Demons: an Enquiry Inspired by the Great Witch Hunt (NewYork: Basic Books, 1975).5j adopt Cohn’s approach in my study by exploring the similarities of accusations made againstheretics, Jews, and witches. However, unlike Cohn my emphasis is on the purpose and timingof the witch stereotype.6 Jeffrey Burton Russell, Witchcraft in the Middle Ages (Ithaca, New York: Coniell University Press, 1972).Richard Kieckhefer, European Witch Trials: Their Foundations in Learned and Popular

Culture, 1300-1500 (London: Routledge, 1976); and Magic in the Middle Ages (New York:Cambridge University Press, 1989).Edward Peters, The Magician, the Witch, and the Law (Philadelphia: University of

Pennsylvania Press, 1978).

Rhiannon Anderson

Ex Post facto XVI • 31The creation of the witch myth slowly developed during a climate of

wide persecution of marginal groups within Christendom. Beginningaround the eleventh century, a mentality geared toward persecutiondeveloped throughout Western Europe and led to discrimination againstand the persecution of social groups who did not fit neatly within theconfines of Christian society.9 Toward the end of the twelfth century,Church officials viewed the emergence of two dissenting spiritualmovements, the Cathars and the Waldedensians, as a threat. In response tothis threat, Church reformers began campaigns against heretics throughpapal bulls and canon law.1° Several canons produced by the ThirdLateran Council of 1179 provided that heretics would be excommunicatedand denied Christian burial. Pope Lucius III’s Ad abotendum of 1184along with Pope Innocent ifi’s Cum es officil nostri of 1207 laid thefoundation for the Inquisition.11 Both decretals defined the crime ofheresy—equating it with treason against the state—in addition todeclaring it the responsibility of the Church to purge heretics from society.By 1215, the canons of the Fourth Lateran Council sanctioned the officialpunishment of heretics, marking the turning point in official Churchposition toward heretics in Christendom for the next three centuries)2 TheCanons of Lateran IV condemned heretics and vowed to “excommunicateand anathematize every heresy that [was raised] against the holy, orthodoxand Catholic faith.”13 In addition, it prescribed that all heretics would beturned over to secular authorities for punishment.t4

While the Inquisition pursued Christian Cathars and Waldensianswho deviated from the faith, Jews, lepers, and homosexuals also were seenas a source of contamination and were excluded from Christian society.Jews and lepers were segregated from Christian communities at large andwere often expelled from entire regions.15 Campaigns of violence againstthese outsiders, especially during heightened times of crisis such as plague

RI. Moore characterized medieval Europe as a “persecuting society” after the year 1100 in hisbook The Formation of a Persecuting Society: Power and Deviance in Western Europe, 950-1250 (Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 1987).‘° For more on the cnminalizalion of heresy, see Edward Peters, Inquisition (New York, 1988), 40-74.Pope Innocent III, “Corn & officu nostri, 1207,” in Heresy and Authority in Medieval

Europe, ed. Edward Peters (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1980), 41-52.12 Brenda Bolton argued that Latemn IV marked the end of flexibility toward heretics, andbegan the rigid installation of persecution. For more regarding this shift in papal attitude andsction against heretics, see her article “Tradition and Temerity: Papal Attitudes to Deviants,1 159-1216,” in Schism, Heresy, and Religious Protest, edited by Derek Baker (New York:Cambridge University Press, 1972), 79-91. Moore also argued that Lateran IV was instrumentalin laying down the machinery ofjudicial persecution of dissident groups, see pages 6-11.‘ “Twelfth Ecumenical Council: Latemn IV, 1215, Canon Three,” Medieval Sourcebook; availablefrom http://www.fordhsm.edu/halsallThasis/lateran4.html; Internet; accessed January 5, 2008.“Twelfth Ecumenical Council.”Leper homes and hospitals were founded across Western Europe during the twelfth centuxy.

Not only were lepem physically segregated from society, they were also ritually separated withthe rite of the dead. For more on the segregation of lepers, see Moore, Formation of aPersecuting Society, 53-60; for residential segregation of Jews, 86-87; and for expulsion, 4344.

The Systematic Demonization ofMedieval Witchcraft

32 • Ex Post facto XVIor famine, became common. When the Black Death struck Europe,pogroms against Jews erupted from Aragon’6 to Strasbourg.’7 Both Jewsand lepers were accused of poisoning wells to spread the plague.18Although the Church did not directly sanction violence, it was in partresponsible for the bad reputations these groups received, and hencecontributed to the rise of intolerance against them.’9

What was condemned as witchcraft during the thirteenth century wasin part the survival of Pre-Christian practices relating to magic.2°Practitioners ofmagic traced its roots back to Greco-Roman and Germanictraditions.21 Although the Church did not wholly approve of magic, manyof these traditions survived and numerous European societies still engagedin such practices.22 Both urban and rural communities appealed tofolkioric traditions through the belief that “cunning men and women”could manipulate the supernatural to fulfill basic, everyday needs. Whilelearned traditions often consisted of ritual magic practiced according tonecromantic handbooks, popular magic encompassed a wide range ofpractices. These included but were not limited to çhysical healing, weathermaking, divination, conjuration, and love magic.2

6 King Pedro IV of Aragon, “Response to Jewish Pogrom of TásTega,” in The Black Death:The Great Mortality of 1348-50, a BriefHistory with Documents, edited by John Aberth (NewYork: Bedford, 2005), 142-143.17 Mathias of Neuenburg discusses the Jewish pogrom at Strasbourg in his “Chronicle, Ca.1349-50,” in Aberth, 151-155. Also see, Heinrich Trnchess’ account of the massacre of Jewsthroughout the Northern Europe, “The Persecution of Jews,” in The Black Death, edited andtranslated by Rosemary Honox (New York: Manchester University Press, 1994), 208-2 10.For accusations and confessions of Jews poisoning wells, see “Interrogation of the Jews of

Savoy: September-October 1348,” in Aberth, The Black Death, 145-150. For a discussionregarding the Church theology of the Jewish myth, see Kenneth R. Stow, Alienated Minority:the Jews of Medieval Latin Europe (Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1992),particularly chapter 1.‘ During the violent attacks on Jews with the arrival of plague, Pope Clement VI issued hisSicut Judeism, a mandate to protect Jews by stopping Jewish pogroms. See “Mandate ofClement VI Concerning the Jews,” in Horrox, The Black Death, 221-222.20 The definition of the term ‘magic” has a very broad range, and various cultures define itdifferently. The use of “magic” in this essay refers to the pre-Christian practices found in boththe literate and illiterate areas of society—both popular and learned traditions. furthermore thisstudy focuses specifically on the practices that manipulated occult powers (usually demons) inorder to exercise control over people or the environment. Maleficium specifically refers to theuse of harmftsl magic—that is, with the intent to cause impotence, bewitchment, illness, or death.21 For more on magic in the ancient world, see Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark, Witchcraft andMagic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,1999). For more on the survival of pagan traditions from antiquity, see Kieckhefer, Magic, 19-42; and for Germanic and Celtic survivals, 43-55.22 For a comprehensive study on the types of pagan traditions that survived and were pmcticedduring the Middle Ages, see Valerie F. Flint The Rise ofMagic in Early Medieval Europe (NewJersey: Princeton University Press, 1991). She argued that the Church sdopted and adaptedcertain pagan traditions, while condemning others as “superstitious.”23 Leamed magic can also be defined as ceremonial magic, which was pmcticed according toinstructions in necromantic handbooks written in Latin. An early example of one of these booksis the Liber sacer sivejuratus dating from around the beginning of the thirteenth century. Formore discussion on the Liber sacer sive juratus, see Robert Mathiesen, “A Thirteenth-CenturyRitual to Attain the Beatific Vision from the Sworn Book of Honorius of Thebes,” in Conjuring

Rhiannon Anderson

Ex Post facto XVI • 33Faced with the survival of these pagan traditions, early Christian

writers adopted two distinct, yet interwoven views—one of condemnation,and the other of skepticism. One of the most influential theologians,Augustine of Hippo (354-430), disapproved of magic practices assuperstitious vanities and charged sorcerers with worshipping false idols,which in itself he deemed as sinful.24 In his work on pagan religion anddemonology, Augustine argued that God alone governed the laws of theuniverse, thereby dismissing any independent validity of magic.25 Hemaintained that neither sorcerers nor witches had supernatural powers, andhence were incapable of invoking magic of any kind. Anotherecclesiastical writer, Caesarius of ArIes (470-542) accepted Augustine’sview of witchcraft, arguing that magicians did not actually performmiracles, but that God had ,ennitted these false miracles to occur in orderto “test” Christian people.2 Overall, the early opinions of Church writersheld that witches and sorcerers were powerless, and that belief in themwas sinful.

Educated clergy members and canon law further echoed thisskepticism during the central Middle Ages. However, unlike prior tractson witchcraft, these included descriptions of certain practices that laterbecome an element of the stereotypical witches’ sabbat. The CanonEpiscopi alleged

[t]hat some wicked women, who have given themselves backto Satan and been seduced by the illusions and phantasms ofdemons, believe and profess that, in the hours of the night,they ride upon certain beasts with Diana, the goddess ofpagans, and an innumerable multitude of women, and in thesilence of the night traverse great spaces of earth, and obeyher commands as of their lady, and are summoned to herservice on certain nights.27

Spirits. Texts and Traditions ofMedieval Ritual Magic, edited by Claire Fanger (Pennsylvania:Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998), 143-162. For more discussion on other handbooksof ceremonial magic, see frank Klaassen, “English Manuscripts of Magic, 1300-1500: aPreliminary Survey,” in Fanger, Conjuring Spirits, 3-31. For a more a comprehensivedocumentation on the use of popular magic, see Bill Griffiths, Aspects of Anglo Saxon Magic(England: Anglo-Saxon Books, 1996), 171-245; and Karen Louise Jolly, Popular Religion inLate Saxon England: Elf Charms in Context (University of North Carolina Press, 1996). Forpopular magic practiced in Italy, see Christine Meek, “Men, Women and Magic: Some Casesfrom Late Medieval Lucca,” in Women in Renaissance and Early Modern Europe, edited byChristine Meek (Four Courts Press: Portland, 2000), 43-66. Carlo Ginsburg also traces the rootsof popular magic practiced throughout Europe in his Ecstasies: Deciphering the WitchesSabbath, translated by Raymond Rosenthal (New York: Penguin Books, 1991), particularly 89.152.24 Saint Augustine, On Christian Teaching, Book I (395-398, 426),” in Kora and Peters,Witchcraft, 43-47.25 Saint Augustine, The City of God, X.9, translated by Marcus Dods (New York: ModemLibrary, 1950), 312-3 14.26 Caeaarius ofArIes, “Sermon 54 (ca. 530),” in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 47-50.27 Regino of PrOm, “A Warning to Bishops, the Canon Episcopi (ca. 906),” in Kors and Peters,Witchcraft, 62.

The Systematic Demonization ofMedieval Witchcraft

34 • Ex Post facto XVIBuchard, the archbishop of Worms also described the witches’ night

ride in his Corrector.28 He posed the question of whether or not onebelieved that women could leave their bodies at night to “cross the spacesof the world” in order to slay Christians and eat them.29 Another cleric,John of Salisbury (d. 1180), noted that certain people believed “that anoctiluca of Heriodias or a witch-ruler of the night [convoked] nocturnalassemblies at which they feast and riot and carry out other rites.”3°

All of these tracts indicate that there was a general belief in theexistence of witches and their nocturnal activities. However, the treatisesemphasized the sinful nature of believing in such fantasies. The CanonEpiscopi sustained that the acts of witches were merely illusions ordreams and whoever believed in them was an “infidel.” furthermore, itheld that belief in witches indicated paganism and heresy because thosewho believed did not have the “tight faith in God.”3’ Buchard of Wormsprovided that those who believed in the witches’ flight should do“penance for forty days. ..on bread and water, and in the seven succeedingyears [perform a similar penance].”32 Salisbury also denounced the beliefin witches, attributing them to the imaginations of “poor old women” and“simpleminded kinds of men.”33

Since the Church dismissed the efficacy of witches’ magic andcondemned those who believed in the witches’ nocturnal journeys,ecclesiastical authorities felt little need to hunt witches down. In fact, themajority of witchcraft trials prior to and into the fourteenth century wereheld by secular authorities and local magistrates—not by ecclesiasticalcourts.34 Church officials adopted a passive approach to the problem ofwitchcraft, by uprooting only those pre-Christian traditions brought totheir attention. The Canon Episcopi did warn bishops and church officialsto be on the lookout for those who might be foolish enough to participate

“ “Hast thou believed that there is any woman who can do that which some, deceived by thedevil, affirm that they must do of necessity or at his command, that is, with a throng of demonstransformed into the likeness of women, (she whom common folly calls the witch Hulda), mustride on certain beasts in special nights and be numbered with their company?” Buchard ofWorms, “Corrector #70, (ca. 1008-1012)” in Medieval Handbooks of Penance, translated byJohn McNeill and Helena Gamer (New York: Colombia University Press: New York, 1990), 331.29 Buchard, Corrector #170, 339.°° John of Salisbury, “The Policraticus (1154),” in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 77.“ Regino of PrOm in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 62.32 Buchard, Corrector #170, 339.“John of Salisbury, “The Policralicus (1154),” in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 78.° Secular authorities handled cases of witchcraft throughout the early Middle Ages andcontinued to do so in some areas during the entirety of the witch-craze of the sixteenth andseventeenth centuries. For the most part, they were not worried about the practice of or thebelief in magic per Se, but they were concerned about the effects of magic, such as wrongfuldeath, poisoning, harming crops, bewitchment, theft, etc. Those who were charged withwitchcraft were held responsible for the effects that their magic might have caused. Familieswho felt that their misfortune was due to the work of sorcery might seek out said witches toobtain personal vengeance. For more on the discussion of early witch trials, see Cohn, Europe’sInner Demons, 147-163.

Rhiannon Anderson

Ex Post Facto XVI • 35in magic or sorcety, yet it only required that those sinful persons beejected with disgrace from the ?arishes in order to keep the Holy Churchpure from superstitious beliefs. Rather than seeking out practitioners ofmagic, priests observed the behavior of their parish and awaited theconfessions of those who strayed from the right teachings of the Church.36

Although members of the higher clergy did not actively pursue so-called witches, a general concern that some people might resort tosuperstitious practices did exist, as evidenced by medieval handbooks ofpenance. The Poenitentiales are laden with various fonns of punishmentand penance for those who dabbled in the magical arts. Some of thesemanuals include Theodore of Tarsus’ penitential (ca. 66$-9O), Haltigarof Cambrai’s Roman Pentitential,38 the Confessional of Egbert,39 andBuchard of Worms’ Corrector.4° These confessional works describednumerous offences related to various forms of magic and proscribedpenance—usually fasting with bread and water. Not only do theseconfessional guides indicate that both men and women participated inmagic, but they also reveal that these pagan traditions transcended socialboundaries, and practitioners of magic included both the laity and theclergy. The Penitential of Theodore prescribes that

[i]f a woman performs diabolical incantations or divinations,she shall do penance for one year or three forty dayperiods.. He who celebrates auguries, omens from the birds,or dreams, or any divinations according to the custom of theheathen, or introduces such people into his house, in seekingout any trick of the magicians—when these becomepenitents, if they belong to the clergy they shall be cast out;but if they are secular persons they shall do penance for fiveyears.41

This passage demonstrates that church authorities recognized thattraces of paganism existed in all levels of the Christian community, notmerely the simple-minded. It also reveals the clergy’s awareness that pre

“ “Bishops and their officials must labor with alt their strength to uproot thoroughly from theparishes the pernicious sit of sorcery and malefice invented by the devil, and if they find a man orwoman follower of this wickedness to eject them foully disgraced from the parishes.. .and so thefloly Church must be cleansed of this pest” Regino of Prum in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 62.36 For more on confession and the use of confessional hand.books, see John Thomas McNeilland Helena M. Gamer, Medieval Handbooks of Penance: a Translation of the Principle libripoenitentiales and Selections from Related Documents, translated and edited by John ThomasMcNeill and Helena M. Gamer (New York, 1965) particularly pages 3-20.“ “Penitential of Theodore, 668.690,” in McNeill and Gamer, Medieval Handbooks, 179-215.36 “The so-called Roman Penitential of Haltigar, ca. 830” in McNeill and Gamer, MedievalHandbooks, 295-314.° “Selections from the so.called Confessional of Egbert, ca. 950.1000,” in McMeill and Gamer,Medieval Handbooks, 243-248.4° “Selections from the Corrector and Physician of Buchard of Worms, ca. 1008-12,” inMcNeill and Gamer, Medieval Handbooks, 321-345.e “The Penitential of Theodore, 668-690, XV.4,” in McNeill and Gamer, Medieval Handbooks, 198.

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36 • ExPostfactoXVlChristian practices still thrived throughout society. By punishing thosewho partook in magical activities, the priests hoped to correct theerroneous behavior and beliefs of their Christian flock. In effect, the goalwas to repress folk-paganism in Christendom.

By the mid-thirteenth century, with the Inquisition already underway,the official opinion regarding magic began to shift. Authorities slowlybegan to associate witchcraft with heresy. In 1258, Pope Alexander IVdeclared that “inquisitors of pestilential heresy, commissioned by theapostolic see, ought not intervene in cases of divination or sorcery unlessthese clearly savor of manifest heresy.”42 This meant that any sorcerer orwitch who prayed at the altars of idols, consulted or summoned demons toelicit aid, or associated publicly with other known heretics were to becondemned as heretics themselves. Although Alexander instructedinquisitors not to investigate cases of divination unless they had certainknowledge of manifest heresy, his letter marked a significant change inthe official view of witchcraft. Certain aspects of witchcraft were nowconnected with heresy.

Throughout the 1320’s, the papacy continued to assimilate witchcraftinto heresy. It was during this time that efforts were made against the lifeof Pope John XXII in Avignon. He believed that these attempts on his lifeinvolved sorcery and failed attempts to poison him.43 Feeling threatenedand fearful, Pope John XXII and the Cardinal William of Santa Sabinadenounced practitioners of magic through letters to inquisitors. William’sletter to the inquisitors of Carcassonne and Toulouse accused sorcerersand witches of paying homage to demons through sacrifices and pacts,while at the same time participating in idolatrous behavior and abusing thesacraments.’ Pope John XXII echoed these same sentiments in his lettersto inquisitors. Both John and William permitted inquisitors to investigatesorcerers and to “proceed against them by whatever means available.”45These letters transformed witchcraft from sinful to heretical behavior, andgave inquisitors authorization to investigate it as such.

During the fourteenth century, the demonized association ofwitchcraft with heresy continued. Not only were certain aspects of magiccondemned as heretical, but theological opinion emphasized the diabolicalaspects of witchcraft. The Directorium Inquisitorium, an inquisitorial

42 Pope Alexander IV, “Sorcery and the Inquisitors (1258),” in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 118.In 1317, Pope John XXII had Hughes Géraud, bishop of Cahors arrested for trying to kill him

with poison and sorcery. Géraud was interrogated by the pope himself and confessed. He wasconsequently burned at the stake. For more discussion on the incident, see Cohn, Europe’sInner Demons, 192-1 93.William, Cardinal of Santa Sabina, “Sorcery and the lnquisitors (1320),” in Kors and Peters,

Witchcraft, 118-119.“ William, Cardinal of Santa Sabina, “Sorcery and the Inquisitors (1320),” in Kors and Peters,Witchcraft, 119. Pope John XXII threatened anathema and excommunication for thosecondemned of witchcraft, see Pope John XXII, “Sorcery and the Inquisitors (1326),” in Korsand Peters, Witchcraft, 120.

Rhiannon Anderson

Ex Post facto XVI • 37manual written by the inquisitor Nicolau Eymenc, claimed that witcheswho invoked demons and made sacrifices to them should be investigatedand prosecuted by the Inquisition.46 In his definition of heretical magic,Eymeric went into great detail regarding the demonical aspects of magic.He described heretical witches as those who invoked and worshippeddemons by sacrificing to them, adoring them, praying to them, praisingthem, singing songs in honor of them, prostrating themselves before them,and burning incense for them. He argued that superstition was a vice“opposed to the Christian religion” and therefore Christians whoparticipated in magic were heretics. Unlike prior tracts regarding theheretical aspects of witches, Eymenc’s manual specifically outlined thediabolical nature of witches’ activities. These descriptions helped cementthe idea of demonic magic within the minds of inquisitors whilecontributing to the terrifying image of the witch.

By officially relating magic with heresy and demonism, thecondemnation of magical practices received authoritative support, andecclesiastical authorities began to partake in a more active role inprosecuting witches. Upon his accession, in 1317, Pope John XXII took itupon himself to investigate cases of sorcely.47 First, he ordered HughesGéraud, a bishop of Cahors arrested for trying to kill him with poison andsorcely.48 The pope personally interrogated the bishop until he obtained aconfession. After admitting his guilt, Géraud was condemned as a hereticand burned at the stake. Shortly after, the pope instituted a commission toinvestigate the practice of magic within his own court. In 1318, thecommission uncovered evidence that both clergy and laymen practicedritual magic, and in 1326 discovered another group partaking in similaractivities. With the assistance of Cardinal William, John XXII officiallypermitted and even encouraged inquisitors to investigate cases ofdivination and sorcery. In 1324, Richard de Ledrede, Bishop of Ossory,used this authority to prosecute Alice Kyteler and eleven of her friendsand family for sorcery through the ecclesiastical court in Ireland,49

The trial of Dame Alice Kyteler marked another substantial shift inthe official view ofmagic, that is, the beginning stages of the developmentof the witch stereotype. Records from her trial contain many elements nottypically found in other sorcery trials of the fourteenth century. Kytelerwas charged with invoking demons and paying homage to the Devil,which were usual in other trials, however, she was additionally chargedwith being the leader of a sect of witches who participated in magical rites

46Njchojau Eymeric, “The Directorium inquisitorum,” in Peters, The Magician, 196-202.‘° For more on Pope John XXII’S activities against the practice of ritual magic, see Cohn,Europe’s Inner Demons, 192-197.For more on the case of Hughes Géraud see Cohn, Europe’s InnerDemons, 192-193.Richard de Ledrede, Bishop of Ossory, “A Contemporary Narrative of the Proceedings

Against Danse Kyteler Prosecuted for Sorcery in 1324,” in The Sorcery Trial ofAlice Kyteler,edited by ES. Davidson and JO. Ward, translated by Gail Ward (New York: Medieval andRenaissance Texts and Studies, 1993), 23-70.

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38 • Ex Post facto XVIduring nocturnal meetings with the Devil.50 Other charges included thecomplete rejection of the Christian faith, the sacrifice of live animals tothe Devil, the concoction of ointments for the purpose of harming people,and finally, carnaL intimacy with a demon, who sometimes “appeared toher in the shape of a cat,” or a “shaggy black dog.”51

While the trial against Alice Kyteler was unique for its time, thecharges against her appeared in later writings of inquisitors and otherchurch officials. The idea of a collective group or sect, as in the case ofKyteler and her associates, became one of the primary features added tothe concept of heretical witchcraft. In 1409, Pope Alexander V wrote tothe inquisitor Pontus Fougeyron regarding the discovery of the newheretical sect of witches. He informed Fougeyron that many Christiansand Jews were part of this new sect and that they performed magical rites“repugnant to the Christian religion.”52 In addition, this sect included“sorcerers, diviners, invokers of demons, enchanters, conjurers,superstitious people, augurs, and practitioners of nefarious and forbiddenarts.”53 Not only did the pope believe in the existence of a new sect ofwitches, he also placed every type of magic into the category of heresy byseparating all the various forms of magic from folkioric traditions.

Sometime during the mid-fifteenth century, the stereotype of thewitch figure and the sabbat fully materialized. Writings from varioustheologians, inquisitors and laypersons reveal a startling change in theidentity of witches. Johannes Nider’s theological treatise entitledFormicarius or the “Ant-Heap,” described the numerous activities of thenew sect of heretics.54 His descriptions followed along the same lines ofcharges that were made against Kyteler, that witches were part of a secretcult and gathered at night to worship the Devil by offering up sacrificesand performing certain rituals.55 These ceremonies consisted of therenunciation of Christianity, cannibalistic infanticide, and shape-shifting.Nider attributed his vast knowledge of witches’ activities to stories hegathered from various inquisitors. According to the inquisitors, theseaccounts emerged from the torture and confessions of witches. By the timeNider wrote his book, around 1435, the notion of the witches’ sabbat hadentered witchcraft trials.

Another writing from an anonymous cleric, possibly an inquisitor,echoed the sentiments of the Fonnicarius.56 According to the unknown

For a comprehensive list of the charges against Alice Kyteler and her associates, see Richardde Ledrede in Davidson and Ward, eds, Sorcery Trial ofAlice Kyteler, 26-30.° Richard de Ledrede in Davidson and Ward, eds, Sorcery Trial ofAlice Kyteler, 30.32 Pope Alexander V “To Fougeyron on New Sects (1409),” in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 152-153.° Pope Alexander v “To Fougeyron on New Sects (1409),” in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 152-153.For a comprehensive study on the Dominican theologian Johannes Nider, and his writings on

witchcraft see Michael D. Bailey, Battling Demons: Witchcraft, Heresy, andReform in the LateMiddle Ages (Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003).° Johannes Nider, “The for,nicarius (1435-38),” in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 155-159.“The Errores Gazariorum (1437)” in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 159-162.

Rhiannon Anderson

Ex Post facto XVI • 39author’s depiction of the nocturnal meetings of the diabolical sect, newmembers were required to denounce their faith in Christianity and swearan oath to the Devil. This oath required that the new member swearloyalty and fidelity to his new master, promise to attend the assembly ofwitches, promise not to reveal the secrets of the sect to anyone, agree tokill any children he can to bring to the sabbat, and to avenge anywrongdoings done to the sect or its members. The author contmued with adetailed account of the secret nocturnal gathering of witches, describinghow

[the] pestiferous sect rejoices together and dines at thereception of the new heretic who is now one of them. Themost evil of banquets having been completed, the presidingdevil cries out that the lights should be extinguished andyells, ‘Mestlet, mestlet.’ After they have heard this commandthey join themselves carnally, a single man with a women ora single woman with another man, and sometimes father withdaughter, son with mother, brother with sister, and thenatural order is little observed. When the unspeakableabominations are over and the lights are relit they eat anddrink for the journey home.57

In addition to confirming all the acts described by Nider, theunknown author included the element of the diabolical orgy. The onlything missing from his account was the idea of the witches’ flight to thesabbat. However, the concept of night flight did exist, as evidenced b5yClaude Tholosan’s Ut magorum et maleficiorum, written in 1436.Tholosan, a lay magistrate, tried over one hundred cases of witchcraft.Through confessions from the many witches he had tried, he gathered thatwitches imagined “in dreams that they [traveled] bodily at night, mostoften on Thursdays and Saturdays, in the company of the devil, in order tosuffocate children and strike them with sickness.”59 In his treatise, thevarious witch practices are similar to descriptions from other writers.

The final stage in the development of the witch stereotype arrivedwith the publication of the Malleus Maleficarum in 1487.60 Written by twoDominican inquisitors, Heinnch Kramer and James Sprenger, the treatisewas an inquisitorial manual dedicated solely to the offense of witchcraft.The handbook outlined every aspect of witchcraft and organized all of the

“The Errores Gazariorum (1437)” in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 160-161.For a brief discussion on the life and writings of Claude Tholosan, see Kors and Peters,

Witchcraft, 162-164.n Claude Tholossn, “Ut magorum el maleficiorum (1426-37),” in Kors and Peters, Witchcraft, 165.60 Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, The Malleus Maleficarum, translated by MontagueSummers (New York: Dover Publications, 1971). for a detailed discussion of the significanceof the Malleus, see Sydney Anglo, “Evident Authority and Authoritative Evidence: TheMalleus Maleficarum,” in The Literature of Witchcraft, vol. 4, edited by Brian P. Levsck (NewYork: Garland Publishing, 1992), 1-31.

The Systematic Demonization ofMedieval Witchcraft

40 • Ex Post facto XVIdiabolical theories about witches into one comprehensive source. Not onlydid the lialteus detail the various types of magic that could be performedby witches, it also presented witchcraft as a complete inversion of theChristian religion.6’ Rather than paying homage to God, witches paid it tothe Devil. While the clergy had a mystical betrothal to Christ, witchesmade pacts with and swore oaths to the Devil. Instead of mass, witchesparticipated in the sabbat. According to Kramer and Sprenger, the sabbatentailed numerous ceremonies in honor and worship of the Devil. Sabbatsincluded the mockery of the Christian faith and its sacraments, ritualmurder of children, cannibalism, night flights, shape-shifting, and orgieswith other witches or with the Devil himself. In effect, witches becamepart of a diabolical conspiracy against humanity. The Malleus declaredthat anyone who did not believe in “such beings as witches” manifestlysavored of heresy.62

Pope Innocent VIII confirmed and made official the arguments setforth in the Malleus. Prior to the release of the book, Pope Innocent VIIIissued a bull in 1484 in which he expressed his concern over the perceivedthreat of the expanding witch sect. He believed that “many person of bothsexes, unmindful of their own salvation and straying from the CatholicFaith, [had] abandoned themselves to devils, incubi and succubi, and bytheir incantations, spells, conjurations, and other accursed charms andcrafts, enormities and horrid offences, [had] slain infants.. .and [had]blasted the produce of the earth.”63 He charged inquisitors with theresponsibility to investigate all cases of sorcery and to punish the“enemies of mankind” as they found suitable. Thus, Pope Innocent Viii’sofficial support of the Malleus confirmed the belief in witches as adiabolical sect out to destroy humanity, and made possible the persecutionof those who fell into that category.

Comparable stereotypes of other outsider groups have provided themodel for elements found in the demonized image of the witch. Heretics,such as the Cathars and Waldensians were accused of renouncingChristianity, abusing the sacraments and attending secret meetings.TM

61 For a study on the similar parallels between witches and saints, see Kieckhefer, “The Holyand the Unholy: Sainthood, Witchcraft and Magic in Late Medieval Europe,” in Christendomand its Discontents: Exclusion, Persecution, and Rebellion, 1000-1500, edited by Scott L.Waugh (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986).62 Heindch Kramer and James Sprenger, Malleus, I63 Pope Innocent VIII, “The Bull of Innocent VIII,” in Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, Malleus, xiii.64 For specific accusations made specifically against the Cathara, see Raynaldua, “On theAccusation against the Albigensians,” Medieval Sourcehoolc available fromhttp://www.fordham.eduIHALSALL/source/heresyl.html; Intemet; accessed January 7, 2008.For the accusations made specifically against the Waldensians, see Reinadus Saccho, “Of theSects of the Modem Heretics, 1254,” Medieval Sourceboolc available fromhttp:I/www.fordham.eduJHALSALL/source/waldo2.html; hitemet; accessed January 8, 2008.for accusations made on heretics in general, see Caesarius of Heisterbach, “Medieval Heresies,chapter )OC-XXII,” Medieval Sourceboolc, available ftomhttp://www.fordhsm.edu/HALSALUsource/caesarius-heresies.hnnl; Internet; accessed January 8, 2008.

Rhiannon Anderson

Ex Post facto XVI • 41Accusations of sexual perversion, child-murder, and devil worship werealso made against heretics,65 Jews,66 and lepers long before they weremade against witches. By the twelfth century, Jews were associated withsinister threats against Christian children. Many believed that Jewskidnapped Christian children and crucified them during the Passoverseason.67 Widely accepted accusations levied against Jews includednotions of conspiracy against Christianity, desecrating the Host,disrespecting the Holy figure of the Virgin Mary, and practicingmaleficium. 8 All of these traits figured into the new beliefs surroundingpractitioners ofmagic, leading to their persecution as the enemies of God.

Similar to other demonized groups, witches were given acollaborative character by being transformed from superstitiousindividuals into members of a larger conspiracy devoted to the destructionof humanity. The idea of the witches’ sabbat reinforced this image of thecollective assault on Christianity. Thus the offense of witchcraft becameunderstandable to society by being labeled a diabolical, heretical sect. Byassociating witches as members of this sect, individual witches were depersonalized, which in part might explain accusations made betweenneighbors. Those who hinted at any sort of superstitious belief or practicefound themselves denounced by their community, and accordinglypersecuted by the Church.

Justified intolerance and widespread persecution came about byendowing marginal groups with a negative and diabolical identity. Prior tothe development of the witches’ heretical character, practitioners of magicdid not figure prominently within the ecclesiastical authority’s realm ofconcern, unless they confessed to their parish priest that they hadparticipated in magic, which originally required only penance. In the rarecases in which people were condemned for witchcraft, usually involvingmateficium, secular authorities tried them. The concern was not over thebeliefs or practices of witches, but rather the effects of harmful magic. Anexample of this can be found in the case of Queen Fredegond of the

65 In 1022, a group charged with heresy in Orleans was accused of participating in diabolicalorgies and the burning of the consequent babies to make magical ointments. They were the firstgroup of heretics to be burned in the West. For their trials, see Moore, 14-17.66 for more on stereotypes attributed to Jews, see Gavin Langmuir, Toward a Definition ofAntiSemitism (Los Angeles: University of California, 1990), particularly pages 301-310.67 In 1171, Jews were accused of crucitying a Christian child and throwing the corpse into theLoire. This was one of the first accusations of ritual murder made against the Jews, see Ephrsimben Jacob, “The Ritual Murder Accusation at Blois, May 1171,” Medieval Sourceboolçavailable from htlp://www.fordham.edulhalsalllsource/l I7lblois.html; Internet; accessedJanuary 8, 2008. In 1173, another accusation of ritual murder was made against the Jews.Thomas of Monmouth recorded that Saint William of Norwich had been kidnapped, tortured,and crucified during Passover in 1144. See Thomas Monmouth, “The Life and Miracles ofSaint William of Norwich, 1173,” Medieval Sourcebook; available fromhttp://www.fordharn.edulhalsalllsource/l l73williamnorwich.hbnl; Internet; accessed January 8,2008.68 William Cheater Jordan, “Marian Devotion and the Talmud Trial of 1240,” inReliginsgesprache im mittelatter, eds. B. Lewis and F. NiewOhnes (Weisbaden, 1992), 6 1-76.

The Systematic Demonization ofMedieval Witchcraft

42 • Ex Post facto XVIMerovingian dynasty in 580.69 After the deaths of two of her sons, theQueen believed they had been victims of sorcery. She consequentlyarrested a suspect and tortured her until she confessed. After herconfession, the condemned witch was burned alive. As this casedemonstrates, secular authorities were not concerned with the magicperformed or the witches’ religiosity, but with the consequences of theiractions. Once witches became associated with heresy they fell into thejurisdiction of the inquisitors and the focus shifted away from the effectsof their magic to their alleged alliance with Satan.

The demonization of witches promulgated fear against anyone whodabbled in the magical arts or pre-Christian traditions. Preachers, such asBernardino of Siena, who traveled around continental Europe preachingagainst sorcerers in 1427, spread this fear throughout the populace. Heargued that the witches needed to be punished and their sinful practiceseradicated from society in order to avoid bringing down the wrath ofGod.7° According to Bernardino, dissenting behavior or unorthodox beliefthreatened to corrupt Christian society, thus provoking God to strike downboth guilty and innocent alike. During the tumultuous fourteenth century,God’s judgment seemed to be manifested through the famine, plague, andwar afflicting Europe. It was during these times of natural disaster andcrisis that society struck out against marginal groups. Although the greatwitch hunts did not fully develop until the sixteenth century, thestigmatization of individuals as members of a diabolical witch sect waswell developed by the fourteenth centtuy. This stereotype marked thoseaccused of witchcraft and practitioners ofmagic as social outcasts, and leftthem vulnerable to persecution.

The twelfth century witnessed the emergence of a society gearedtowards persecution. Persecution or exclusion awaited those withdissenting beliefs or practices. Ecclesiastical authorities focused theirattention on rooting out heretics from Christendom, therefore practitionersof magic and sorcery originally remained outside the realm of heresy, andthus avoided persecution. However, with the birth of the diabolical witchsect in the fourteenth century, society began to fear witches, and churchauthorities began systematically to pursue them. The charges made againstthe new diabolical sect mirrored those attributed to other dissidents. Thesystematic demonization of folkloric traditions marked the beginning ofthe persecution of witches during the Middle Ages. The transformation ofthe witch into a diabolical character helped sow the seeds for the witch-craze that erupted during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

69 This case is related in Cohn, Europe ‘sinner Demons, 148-149.70 “Bernardino of Siena Preaches Against Women Sorcerers (1427),” in Kors and Peters,Witchcraft, 133-137.

Rhiannon Anderson