A contemporary narrative of the proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler, prosecuted for sorcery in 1324, by Richard de Ledrede, bishop of Ossory / edited by Thomas Wright.

Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A contemporary narrative of the proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler, prosecuted for sorcery in 1324, by Richard de Ledrede, bishop of Ossory / edited by Thomas Wright. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/120 (page 8)
    the fifteenth century the old charges against the Waldenses:were revived in Flanders and Artois. Their assembly was called a Vaudotsie (Waldesia), and there they met the evil one, and performed the same acts of impiety and impurity which are said to have been acted at the sabbaths of the witches. Many of these unfortunate people were burnt at Douais, Arras, and other places, professing at the stake their innocence, which was acknowledged by a judgment of the Parliament of Paris in 1491.* Till the fourteenth century, witchcraft and sorcery appear to have been nomen volunt dare, quod primo et ante omnia jussu diaboli abnegent sanctam fidem et sanctum baptisma, dominum Deum, et Beatam Virginem Mariam, et postea crucem aliquam ab una strigiarum terre inscriptam conculcent: quibus omnibus peractis faciunt fidelitatem in manibus ipsius Diaboli, acceptantes eum in dominum suum, promittuntque ei obedientiam in omnibus ; et in signum horum omnium manu sinistra post tergum versa diaboli manum tangunt, eidemque aliquid offerunt in signum sub- jectionis. Exinde dicuntur credere diabolum verum suum esse dominum ac deum ; et quotiescunque vadunt ad nocturnam illam congregationem, quam /udwm bone so- cietatis appellant, diabolo in forma humana apparenti reverentiam facere, ipsumque capite profunde inclinato ut verum suum Deum adorare. Ad hane congregationem, seu ludum, dicuntur vigilantes et sensibus bene utentes vere ac corporaliter vadere ; pedibus quidem, si loca sint propinqua: si vero distantia, deferri a diabolo per aérem. Limborch, Historia Inquisitionis, lib. iii. c. xxi. * Circa annum 1460 in Flandria et Artesia inquisitio admodum szviit, contra quosdam, qui falso magic et occulti cum Satana foederis insimulabantur, qui, ad conflandam Valdensibus invidiam, Valdenses nuncupabantur: locus autem, in quo nocturnos suos coetus habere dicebantur, Valdesia. Duaci, Atrebati, aliisque in locis, diversis temporibus plures ad requisitionem Petri Brussardi inquisitoris in carcerem. sunt conjecti. Hi, tormentis victi, quicquid ipsis exprobratum fuit confitebantur : inter alia, quod se Satanse devovissent, illum adorassent, cum ipso carnaliter commixti essent, aliaque quee nullam merentur fidem. Ad rogum damnati, innocentes se pro- testabantur, et publice coram omnibus alta voce proclamabant, nunquam se in Valdesia (ita, uti diximus, coetus ille nocturnus magorum et diaboli vocabatur) fuisse, sed a judicibus esse deceptos, qui blandis promissis, quibus vita ac omnia bona ipsis pro- mittebantur si crimina objecta confiterentur, ex ipsis elicuerint falsam criminum a se nunquam commissorum confessionem : alii aiebant tormentis falsam sibi confessionem expressam: tandem orabant astantes ut pro se Deum precarentur, mediisque in flammis animas suas Deo commendabant. Illorum tamen innocentia postea patuit: nam anno 1491 miseri hi, cum aliis ob eandem causam in carcerem conjectis, sententia Parliamenti Parisiensis declarati sunt innocentes, bonaque ipsis restituta; judicibus vero gravis mulcta pecuniaria est irrogata.—Limborch, Historia Inquisitionis, lib. i. c. xxiii.