Page:A history of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, volume 3.djvu/558

 542 WITCHCRAFT. in which the unfortunate women accused, after due torture, con- fess all the customary horrors.* One result of this campaign of Institoris in the Tyrol was that it left Sigismund of Austria in a condition of perplexity as to the reality of witchcraft. His judges had apparently been inexperi- enced in such matters, the confessions of the accused had varied greatly, and the inquisition had been cut short before they could be forced to consentaneous avowals. To satisfy his mind, in 14S7, he consulted on the subject two learned doctors of the law, Ulric Molitoris and Conrad Stiirtzel, and the result was published at Constance in 1489 by Ulric, in the form of a discussion between the three. Sigismund is represented as urging the natural argu- ment that the results obtained by witchcraft were so wofully in- adequate to the powers ascribed to it as to cast doubt upon the reality of those powers — if they were real, a conqueror would only have, like "William the Manzer at Ely, to put a witch at the head of his army to overcome all opposition. Against this view the customary texts and citations were alleged, and the conclusions reached represent very fairly the moderate opinions of the conserv- atives, who had not as yet yielded fully to the witchcraft craze, but who shrank from a rationalistic denial of that which had been handed down bv the wisdom of ages. These are summed up in eight propositions : 1. Satan cannot himself, or by means of human instruments, disturb the elements, or injure men and animals, or render them impotent, but God sometimes permits him to do so to a certain determinate extent. 2. He cannot exceed this designated limit. 3. By permission of God he can sometimes cause illusions by which men appear to be transformed. 4. The night-riding and assemblages of the Sabbat are illusions. 5. Incubi and succubi are incapable of procreation. 6. God alone knows the future and the thoughts of men ; the devil can only conjecture and use his knowledge of the stars. 7. Nevertheless witches, by worshipping and sacrificing to Satan, are real heretics and apostates. 8. Finally, they should therefore be put to death. In this cautious endeavor to harmonize the old school and the new, the witch thus gained nothing ; everything was conceded that had sqq.— Mall. Maleficar. P. n. Q. 1, c. 12 ; P. m. Q. 15.
 * Rapp, Die Hexenprocesse und ihre Gegner aus Tirol, pp. 5-8, 12-13, 143