Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/426

 410 SORCERY AXD OCCULT ARTS. first impulse of the people in case of accident or sudden sickness was to send for the nearest ariolus, or practitioner of forbidden arts, and that the profession was exercised openly and without fear of punishment, in spite of repeated condemnations b} r the coun- cils of the period. How little such persons had to fear is seen in the case of a woman of Verdun, who professed to be a soothsayer and to discover stolen goods. She was so successful that she drove a thriving trade, purchased her freedom of her master, and accumulated a store of money. At length she was brought before Bishop Ageric, who only treated her for demoniacal possession with exorcisms and inunctions of holy oil, and finally discharged her.* Occasionally, of course, cases occurred in which the unrestrained passions of the Merovingians wreaked savage cruelty on those who had incurred their ill-will, but these were exceptional and outside of the law. When Fredegonda lost two children by pestilence, her stepson Clovis was accused of causing it by sorcery. The woman designated as his accomplice was tortured until she con- fessed, and was burned, although she retracted her confession, after which Chilperic delivered his son Clovis to Fredegonda, who caused him to be assassinated. When, subsequently, another son, Thierry, Concil. Venetic. arm. 465 c. 16. — Concil. Agathens. arm. 506 c. 42, 68.— C. Au- relianens. I. ann. 511 c. 30. — C. Autissiodor. arm. 578 c. 4. — C. Narbonnens. arm. 589 c. 14. — C. Remens. arm. 630 c. 14. — C. Rotomagens. arm. 650 c. 4. — Greg. Turon. Hist. Francor. vn. 44. The hostility of Christian magic to its rivals extended even to rational medi- cine. Gregory of Tours develops the teaching of St. Nilus by giving examples to show that it was a sin to have recourse to natural remedies, such as blood- letting, instead of trusting wholly to the intercession of saints. — Hist. Franc, v. 6 ; de Mirac. S. Martini n. 60. It was in vain for the Church to proscribe goetic magic while it fostered the beliefs on which the superstition was based by encouraging the practice of sacred magic. For example, there was little use in endeavoring to suppress amulets and charms while the faithful were taught to carry the Agnus Dei, or figure of a lamb stamped in wax remaining from the paschal candles, and consecrated by the pope. In forbidding the decoration and sale of these in 1471, Paul II. expatiates on their efficacy in preserving from fire and shipwreck, in averting tempests and lightning and hail, and in assisting women in childbirth. — Raynald. ann. 1471, Iso. 58.
 * Greg. Turon. de Mirac. Lib. u. c. 45 ; de Mirac. S. Martini Lib. i. c. 20. —