Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/477

 UTILITY OF TORTURE. 4(5X managed to have it believed that the stories of sorcery were false, so the Parlement stopped the proceedings, and thus having its at- tention drawn to the matter, decreed that in future cognizance of such offences should be confined to the secular tribunals, to the ex- clusion of the spiritual courts.* Secular judges, however, were ready to treat these cases with abundant sharpness. A case oc- curring at the Paris Chatelet in 1390 has much interest as afford- ing us an insight into the details of procedure, and as illustrating the efficacy of torture in securing conviction. Except as regards the use of this expedient, now universal in all criminal cases, we see that the process is much fairer to the accused than that of the Inquisition, and we observe once more the ineffaceable impression produced by torture, which leads the despairing victim to adhere to the self-condemnation conducting him inevitably to the stake. Marion l'Estalee was a young fille defolle vie, madly in love with a man named Hainsselin Planiete, who deserted her, and, about July 1, 1390, married a woman named Agnesot. Eager to prevent this, if her confession is to be believed, she had applied to an old procuress named Margot de la Barre, for a philtre to fix his wan- dering affection, and when this failed Margot made for her two enchanted chaplets of herbs, which she threw where the bride and groom would tread on them during the festivities of the wedding- day, assured that this would prevent the consummation of the marriage. The plot was unsuccessful, but Hainsselin and Agnesot fell sick, leading to the arrest of the two women. On July 30 Margot was examined and denied all complicity. She was promptly tortured on le petit et le grand tresteau — which I conjecture to mean, the former, pouring water down the throat till the stomach was distended and then forcing it out by paddling the belly ; the latter, the rack. This reduplicated torture produced no confession, and she was remanded for further hearing. August 17 Marion was taken in hand, when she denied, and was similarly tortured without result. On the 3d she was again examined and denied, and on being again ordered to the torture, she appealed to the Parlement ; the appeal was promptly heard and rejected, and she was tortured as before, then taken to the kitchen and warmed, after which she was tortured a third time, but to no effect. On
 * Bodini de Magor. Demonoman. Lib. iv. c. 1,