Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/551

 COMMENCEMENT. 535 judges as Peter of Berne, until they assumed the detailed and definite shape that we find in Nider. The latter also acknowl- edges his obligation to the Inquisitor of Autun, which would in- dicate that witchcraft was prevalent in Burgundy at a compara- tively early period. In 1424 we hear of a witch named Finicella burned in Rome for causing the death of many persons and be- witching many more. According to Peter of Berne, the evil orig- inated with a certain Scavius, who openly boasted of his powers, and always escaped by transforming himself into a mouse, until he was assassinated through a window near which he incautiously sat. His principal disciple was Poppo, who taught Staedelin ; the latter fell into the hands of Peter, and, after four vigorous appli- cations of torture, confessed all the secrets of the diabolical sect. The details given are virtually those described above, showing that: the subsequent inquisitors who drew their inspiration from Nider were skilled in their work and knew how to extract confessions in accordance with their preconceived notions. There are a few unim- portant variants, of course ; infants, as already stated, when killed, were boiled down, the soup being used to procure converts by its magic power, while the solid portion was worked up into ointment required for the unholy rites. Apparently, moreover, the theory had not yet established itself that the witch was powerless against officers of public justice, for the latter were held to incur great dangers in the performance of their functions. It was only by the most careful observance of religious duties and the constant use of the sign of the cross that Peter of Berne escaped, and even he once, at the castle of Blankenburg, nearly lost his life when, going up a lofty staircase at night in such haste that he forgot to cross himself, he was precipitated violently to the bottom — manifestly the effect of sorcery, as he subsequently learned by torturing a prisoner.* Although, in 1452, a witch tried at Provins declared that in all France and Burgundy the total number of witches did not exceed Soldan,Geschichte der Hexenprocesse, Stuttgart, 1843, p. 186. — Bernardi Comen- sis de Strigiis c. 4.— Steph. Infessurse Diar. Urb. Romse ann. 1424 (Eccard. Corp. Hist. II. 1874-5). Peter of Berne's efforts to purify his territory were fruitless, for we hear of witches burned in 1482 at Murten, Canton Berne (Valerius Anshelm, Berner- Chronik, Bern, 1884, I. 224).
 * Nider Formicar. Lib. v. c. 3, 4, 7. — Grimm's Teutonic Mythol. III. 1066. —