An Examen of Witches/Author's Preface

by Henry Boguet

Author’s Preface

It is astonishing that there should still be found to-day people who do not believe that there are witches. For my part I suspect that the truth is that such people really believe in their hearts, but will not admit it; for the Pagans have a lesson for them in this matter; they are refuted by the Canon and Civil Laws; Holy Scripture gives them the lie; the voluntary and repeated confessions of witches prove them wrong; and the sentences passed in various places against the accused must shut their mouths. I am not sure that I dare not go so far as to say that it seems more likely than not that such people are of the witches’ party: in any case, I have no doubt this is true of some of them; and that the rest are unwilling to admit the existence of witches because, perhaps, they are descended from them and, in defence of their ancestors, would have men firmly believe that there are no witches in the world. Yet this is not a matter of such small moment as many people think; for it is a cause of the frequent immunity of witches, greatly to the mischief of the public and to the prejudice of the honour of God, which we should in all things have as our object, not allowing Satan to enlarge his kingdom further, as he does by means of the damnable plots of these his subjects.

Now I do not gainsay that the stories told of witches are very strange; for there is matter for much wonder in the form taken by Satan when he accosts them; their transvection to the Sabbat is astounding; we can but marvel at their oblations, their dances, their obscene kisses, their feasts, and their carnal couplings with their Master; it is beyond comprehension how they cause hail and tempests to spoil the fruits of the earth, and again how they cause the death of a man or the sickness of an animal; it would seem impossible for a witch to transport the corn from one field to another, and milk from the udder of one cow to that of another; it is beyond knowledge how they contrive to send demons and evil spirits into a man’s body, or how they change themselves into wolves. In short, the deeds of witches have been considered as supernatural and miraculous, and therefore have men been unable to credit them.

But what then; Do we not know how great is the knowledge and experience of demons? It is certain that they have a deep knowledge of all things. Cf. Grilland, de Sortil. q. 6. num, 1, et seq.For there is no Theologian who can interpret the Holy Scripture better than they; there is no Lawyer with a profounder knowledge of Testaments, Contracts and Actions; there is no physician or philosopher who better understands the composition of the human body, and the virtue of the Heavens, the Stars, Birds, and Fishes, of trees and herbs and metals and stones. Furthermore, since they are of the same nature as the Angels, all bodies must obey them in respect of local motion. Again, do we not know how great is the power which God in express words has given them upon earth. The Book of Job teaches us this so plainly that there is no need of other proofs; for God even says that there is no power upon earth which may be compared with that of Behemoth.

And if such be the power of Satan, why should he not be able to perform the works which we have mentioned? I will even say that it is all the easier for him to do so, in that all these works are due to natural causes. For the demons never work except through second and natural causes, although the speed and cunning which they employ make their actions appear to be miracles; whereas miracles can never be ascribed to them, since these belong to God only, as the Psalmist says: “He alone doeth great marvels.”

At other times Satan has worked purely by means of illusion, by troubling and confusing man’s eyes or fantasy. This is so in the case of Lycanthropes, and of those who believe that they see such creatures. Yet even this he contrives by natural means. So much for Satan in particular.

As for witches, although they cannot do such marvels as Satan, yet with his help they do terrible and shocking things. For they learn from him to compound a poison which they secretly pour into the broth of their enemy, who after tasting this poison sickens and languishes or suddenly dies, according to the might and virtue of the poison he has received: they strike people with headaches, pains in the feet and belly, with leprosy, epilepsy, swelling, and other such ills: guided by Satan they enter a man’s house by night and cut his throat in his bed: they run about the fields and rocks in the form of wolves and so kill now a beast and now a child: in short they have ten thousand ways of harming men, beasts, and the fruits of the earth, with the help of the Devil.

For the most part the witch has only the intent to harm, whilst Satan actually performs that which he would have done. We have many proofs of this, as when a witch touches someone with his hand or a wand, or melts a waxen image, or utters certain words, with the intent to cause the death or sickness of such a person. For neither the touch, nor the waxen image, nor the words are effective in anything save as a symbol of the pact formed by the witch with Satan; and it is Satan who, in this case, in some secret manner causes the death or sickness. It may be that he could not do this but for the wicked intent and wish of the witch; just as the body can do nothing without the soul, and the soul of itself can do nothing regarding the actions which belong to the body. And herein the witch is as guilty as if he had himself committed the deed, in accordance with the provisions of the Common Law which considers the author of a crime equally worthy of punishment as the man who actually commits it. And from this it will appear that the stories told of witches are no fable.

But to make this still clearer, I have founded the following Examen upon certain trials which I have myself conducted, during the last two years, of several members of this sect, whom I have seen and heard and probed as carefully as I possibly could in order to draw the truth from them. And although I have been at pains to be brief, I think that I have touched upon the chief points of my subject, as may be seen from a glance at the list of the chapter headings.

At the end of this Examen, I have added a short instruction for Judges who find themselves in the same case, since they must not conduct themselves in such trials as they do in those of other crimes. In this I have had the assistance of the works of the Inquisitors, of Bodin, Remy, Binsfeld, and others; but my chief help has been my own experience and my own observations of this damnable sect of people, who are the more difficult to convict in that they have always as their advocate that cunning Satan, who has the hardihood even to help and advise them when the Judge is speaking to them and questioning them.

And if anyone takes exception to my having disclosed the names of the witches who were accused, I answer that, since their trials have been accomplished, this does not seem to me to matter much; for their names can always be found by going to the registers. Further, it is better that their names should be known, so that men may be on their guard not only against them, but also against their children, who usually follow their manner of life, and to protect themselves either change their names or their place of abode. In short I am in this respect but imitating the example of most who have written before me. And although I have never in this book departed from the strictest standards of moderation, I would yet have it plainly known that I am a sworn enemy to witches, and that I shall never spare them, for their execrable abominations, and for the countless numbers of them which are seen to increase every day so that it seems that we are now in the time of Antichrist, since, among the signs that are given of his arrival, this is one of the chief, namely, that witchcraft shall then be rife throughout the world.

And truly it would be well that special Judges were appointed to cut off this Hydra’s heads effectively so that they may not grow again. For the Ordinaries are so busy with their normal duties that they cannot give to witches the time they would like to give, and which such a matter requires. But let us come to our Examen.