Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/540

 521 WITCHCRAFT. ingly he sent to Arras, as supervisors, his confessor, a Dominican and titular Bishop of Selimbria, together with the Chevalier Bau- doin de Xoyelles, Governor of Peronne, while the Comte d'Es- tampes deputed his secretary, Jean Forme, together with Philippe de Saveuse, the Seimieur de Crevecceur, who was baillv of Amiens, and his lieutenant, Guillaume de Berri. The first effort of these new-comers seems to have been to share in the spoils. On July 16 Baudoin de Xoyelles arrested Antoine Sacquespee, an eschevin and one of the richest of the citizens, who had been urged to fly, but who, like de Beauffort, had declared that he would come a thousand leagues to face the accusation. The next day another eschevin, Jean Josset, was seized, and a sergent-de-ville named Henriet Koyville, while three whose arrest was pending fled, two of them being wealthy men, Martin Cornille, and AVillaume le Febvre, whom the Comte d'Estampes pursued as far as Paris without success. A panic terror by this time pervaded the com- munity ; no one knew when his turn would come, and men scarce dared to leave the city for fear they would be accused of flying through conscious guilt, while citizens who were absent were un- welcome guests everywhere, and could scarce find lodgings. Sim- ilarly, strangers would not venture to visit the city. Arras was a prosperous seat of manufactures, and its industries suffered enor- mously. Its merchants lost their credit ; creditors importunately demanded settlement, for the risk of confiscation hung over every man, and we have seen how the rights of creditors in such cases were extinguished. The vicars endeavored to soothe the general alarm and distress by a proclamation that no one need fear arrest who was innocent, for none were arrested unless eight or ten wit- nesses swore to seeing them at the Sabbat — though it was after- wards found that nianv were seized on the evidence of onlv one or two. At length, at the expense of the prisoners, the inquisitor, with the vicars and Gilles Flameng, was sent to the Duke of Burgundy at Brussels, to lay before him the evidence of the trials. The duke called a great assembly of clerks, including the doctors of Lou- vain, who gravely debated the matter. Some held, with the Cap. Episcopi. that it was all a delusion, others that it was a reality. Xo conclusion was reached, and the duke finally sent his herald, Toison d'Or (Lefebvre, Seigneur de Saint -Eemy) in whom he had