The admirable history of the posession and conuersion of a penitent woman Seduced by a magician that made her to become a witch, and the princesse of sorcerers in the country of Prouince, who was brought to S. Baume to bee exorcised, in the yeare 1610, in the moneth of Nouember, by the authority of the reuerend father, and frier, Sebastian Michaëlis, priour of the couent royall of S. Magdalene at Saint Maximin, and also of the said place of Saint Baume. Who appointed the reuerend father, Frier Francis Domptius, Doctor of Diuinity, in the Vniuersity of Louaine, ... for the exorcismes and recollection of the acts. All faithfully set down, and fully verified. Wherunto is annexed a pneumology, or discourse of spirits made by the said father Michaëlis, ... Translated into English by W.B.

CHAP. 7. Of Witches; and that women are more addicted to Witch∣craft then men are.

IF the Diuell haue power in a thing so exe∣crable, to gaine men vnto his seruice; it is no wonder if he haue also ensnared and en∣ticed women into his nets, especially be∣cause hee doth first labour to win them, whom hee knoweth to be open vnto perswasions, and more easie to be deceiued, in regard of the naturall impotency and simplicity of their sex.* 1.1 And this doth S. Paul signifie,

when he saith, Take heed you be not deceiued through the simplicity that proceedeth from Christ Iesus. Thus did the Diuell tempt Eue, albeit shee was then in her originall integrity; and hee did the rather buckle vp himselfe to giue this onset, because hee knew well how fit air organ she was to draw the man to yeeld his con∣sent vnto her liking. And this hee practised from the beginning, and hath since still obserued that this sex hath this property, to bee exceedingly addicted vnto somthing, be it good, or bee it bad: so that if a woman addict her selfe to well doing, shee is more seruent in it then a man; and so contrariwise, if shee abandon her selfe to euill, she is more obstinate to persist in the same then a man is: which is well obserued by S. Chrysostom,* 1.2 in these words: Contentiosum est (inquit) hoc animal & importunum ac victoriae amans, siue ad malum declinet, siue ad bon••m. So that wee may speake of them as wee speake of Angels in generall, and say with the Diuines, Cui adhaerent, immobiliter adhaerent. And hereof all Hi∣stories are full: it shall bee sufficient amongst profane authors to alleage one example set downe in the Ro∣mane histories. Macrina a noble Lady of Rome did resolue not to speake or looke vpon any man liuing, vn∣till her husband Torquatus, who was sent abroad by the Romans to subdue diuers Cities and Prouinces, should returne home vnto her. It so fell out that eleuen yeeres after, there was a wild or sauage man brought to Rome, who had but one eye in the middle of his brow, and was found in the deserts of Aegypt: which, when shee vnderstood by her chambermaid, she was exceedingly moued with a violent desire to see this nouelty; neuer∣thelesse shee did command her longings so well, that she did not interrupt her first resolution. And when vp∣on a day this sauage man passed by her house, and her selfe was in the chamber, that looked out into the street by which he was to passe, although she heard the noyse and cries in the streets, as the fashion of the com∣mon

sort of people is when they see any strange specta∣cle, yet did shee so strongly represse her passions, that shee would not so much as come vnto the window to see him, whereof she not long afterward died. It shall also be sufficient to select from ecclesiasticall histories that example which Theodoret relateth of the Matrons of Rome,* 1.3 who when they saw that their husbands the Senators and others, dared not to intercede to the Em∣perour in fauour of Liberius the Pope of Rome, whom he had causelesly banished, for that hee would not con∣sent to the bringing in of Heresie, they resolued among themselues to goe vnto the Court, where with their cries and importunity, they neuer left vntill the Empe∣rour had called back their chiefe Pastor from banish∣ment. The Scripture also is plentifull in these examples. Iudith and Hester will sufficiently exemplifie the good∣nesse of women that loue God; and Iosephs mistrisse with Iesabell will fully declare the violence of those that abandon themselues to euill. And as we see by ex∣perience euen in these daies, that sober and vertuous women, although in their nature they are most pro∣pense vnto compassion, yet they are they that cast the first stones against Sorcerers, and cry louder then the rest to haue them burnt: so contrariwise, Sorceresses are more obstinate, and more addicted vnto witch∣crafts, and doe with lesse remorse of conscience plunge themselues into the most execrable facts that may bee, then men: so that it is certaine that women are imployed to strangle children, and to carry and present them to the Diuell, and to make a kind of oyntment of their grease; but Sorcerers and men Witches doe sel∣dome or neuer dip their fingers in these bloody actions. Hence is the reason grounded, why the first prohibiti∣on to practise witchcraft, whereof mention is made in the Law of God was addressed to women and not to men,* 1.4 as Sanctes Pagninus hath well obserued, saying; that whereas in the two and twentieth chapter of Exo∣dus,

wee haue it in the plurall number, Maleficos non patieris viuere, it is in the fountaine of the Hebrew ex∣pressed by the word Mechashepha,* 1.5 which signifieth a woman witch, and then the sense is thus: Thou shalt not suffer a Sorceresse to liue, because (saith hee) it is a trade more ordinary and vsuall vnto women then vnto men. And this appeareth by the history of Saul, who when he had formerly put to death all manner of Magi∣cians and Witches; yet at the last, seeing himselfe for∣saken of God for his iniquities, hee resolued to resort vnto the Diuell, and to that purpose hee demanded his seruants whether there were any woman witch left or no: Looke me out (saith he) one that hath a Spirit that I may goe vnto her, and may by her procurement bee aduertized of what I desire to know. Where we are to obserue that Saul did not aske whether there were a man that was a witch, but whether there were any wo∣man witch: as if he should haue said, that notwithstan∣ding all that he had done against them, it could not be but that there remained yet aliue some woman or other of this occupation: and in truth it is almost impossible to discouer them so easily as men. The conclusion was, Saul was not deceiued in his expectation, for his Cour∣tiers, who doe oftentimes make their repaire vnto such people (as the custome of them is) did redily name one vnto him, vnto whom when Saul came, shee began to make her protestations that she was an honest woman, and would for no good attempt such a thing, which was prohibited both by God and the King: but being a little foothed vp with faire promises, shee quickly made the Diuell to attend this seruice: and therefore the Hebrewes are not contented to tearme them by ap∣pellations common vnto them all, both men and wo∣men, which we haue particularly collected in the for∣mer Chapter, but would marke them out by a peculi∣ar attribute, which properly is to be vnderstood of wo∣men, as may be seene in Helias the Leuite in his Thisby,* 1.6

who reporteth according to the traditions of the Iewes, that there are women whom they call the Diuels mo∣thers, and tearme them by this word Lilith, which is de∣riued from another Hebrew word signifiing the night, because they vse to goe secretly and in the night. And this haue the Latines imitated or borrowed from the Hebrewes, calling them Striges or Lamiae, which signi∣eth monsters and stranges birds that vse to goe in the finight. And the said Helias further saith, that a great Lord hauing asked the question of the ancient fathers of the Synagogue, how it chanced that young children that are but eight daies old were so often times found suddently dead, they answered him, that they were Li∣lith who put them to death: which is the appellation of Sorceresses, for the Hebrew word is of the feminine gender, as appeareth more plainely by the participle and feminine adiectiue which is ioyned with the word Li∣lith, and also because hee saith that they were Nashim, that is to say, women. And the Iewish women are so fully perswaded of the truth thereof (for they are the most superstitious women of the world) that they vse to make foure circles with chalke, or with a cole on the outward parts of the chamber walles where they vse to lie, and vpon euery side or quarter of the chamber they make a circle, writing in one of them the name of A∣dam, in the other the name of Eue, in the third the word Huts, which signifieth (without) and in the fourth the word Lilith: as if they should haue said (as I conceiue it) Adam and Eue are the first Parents and Progenitors of mankind, and therefore get you hence all witchcrafts whatsoeuer. Within the chamber they write the names of the Angels, whom they thinke to bee protectors of their children: to wit, Senoy, Sansenoy, and Samangue∣loph, saying that Lilith did teach the Iewish women to doe this before shee died: where it is to bee supposed, that this was the name of some great Sorceresse, heere∣tofore much renouned amongst them, whom therefore

they called Lilith, because shee commonly went in the night: and it is probable shee taught her daughters or some others all the superstitions and art she had, before her death; and afterward in processe of time such kind of women were called Lilith. Howsoeuer it be, this dis∣course of Helias the Leuite doth sufficiently declare the antiquitie of Sorcerers, that goe by night and strangle young children, and hee doth there assure vs, that these things are no fables. Which relation would receiue strength and accession of authority, if wee will allow that Iesus the sonne of Sirac did make that discourse, which doth at large mention all these things, and is at∣tributed vnto him in the Hebrew booke. We also finde the word Lilith in the Scripture, and particularly in the foure and thirtieth of Esay,* 1.7 which Saint Ierome tran∣slateth and thinketh to be a Sorceresse.* 1.8 Ibi cubauit La∣mia: whereby is meant such women as vse to goe in the night. Againe in the Lamentations of Ieremy he inter∣preteth this word Lilith to be a Sorceresse, saying,* 1.9 Sed & Lamiae. Lamia (saith Duris) was a woman, who was iealous that her husband had begotten a child vpon another woman, and thereupon in a great surie she gaue secret order to haue the child strangled, and did the like by all those whom shee could get into her hands: and from her are such kinde of women by the Latines called Lamiae, whose custome was (as Ieremy hath it) to shew and offer their breasts vnto little children, thereby to still them, and to allure them to come vnto them, that so they might strangle them with greater secresie. Therefore when God threatneth Babylon or Ierusa∣lem,* 1.10 that witches should frequent thither, and shew their teates; it is but to shew that such places should be left desolate, and vtterly ouerthrowne, because desolate places are altogether frequented by witches, who come there to make their assemblies, and are carried for the most part thither by the Diuell, that in such remote cor∣ners they might the more freely exercise the mysteries

of their abominations: like as theeues and murtherers haunt such kinde of sollitude. Pliny lib. 25. hist. cap. 11. saith that women doe farre exceed men in this trade, and Quintilian in declamat. saith, Latr••cinium in v••∣ro facilius, veneficium in foemina. The other kinde of Witches is not so execrable, because there is no ex∣presse bargaine with Satan, but onely a tacite agree∣ment. And against them S. Chrysostome homil. 13. in 1. ad Timotheum teacheth vs to proceed in another fa∣shion.* 1.11 Si quis (inquit) ligatur as inanes, aut aliud quip∣piam eiusmodisciens & prudens sequitur, praecepto atque imperio tantum arcendus est, sin vero ignarus in ea inci∣derit, docendus est. That is to say, We are to informe the ignorant, and to shew vnto them how foule the offence is, where men leaue God to adhere vnto superstitions.

Notes

• * 1.1

  2. Corinth. 11.
• * 1.2

  Chrysost. hom. 4. de fide Ann.
• * 1.3

  Theodor. lib. histor.
• * 1.4

  Sanctes Pag∣ninus in The∣sauro.
• * 1.5

  1. Reg. 2••.
• * 1.6

  Helias Leuit. in Thisby.
• * 1.7

  Esay 34.
• * 1.8

  Thren. 4.
• * 1.9

  Duris lib. 2. de rebus Lybicis.
• * 1.10

  Esay 34.
• * 1.11

  Chrysost. hom. 13. in 1. ad Timoth.