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CONTEMPORARY NARRATIVE
01 THE
PROCEEDINGS
\(.AI \sT
DAME ALICE KYTELER,
PROSECUTED FOR SORCERY IN 1324, BY RICHARD DE LEDREDE, BISHOP OF OSSORY.
EDITED BY
THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq. M.A., F.S.A., &c.
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE (ACADEMIE DES INSCRIPTIONS et belles-lettres).
LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE CAMDEN SOCIETY,
BY JOHN BOWYER NICHOLS AND SON, PARLIAMENT STREET.
M.DCCC.XLIII.
M&*'
x J
nto, c ■5.'-i-"cV(«^
JUN 1 3 1975
[NO. XXIV.]
COUNCIL
OF
THE CAMDEN SOCIETY,
FOR THE YEAR 1842-3.
President, THE RIGHT HON. LORD FRANCIS EGERTON, M.P.
THOMAS AMYOT, ESQ. F.R.S. Treas. S.A. Director,
THE RIGHT HON. LORD BRAYBROOKE, F.S.A.
JOHN BRUCE, ESQ. F.S.A., Treasurer,
JOHN PAYNE COLLIER, ESQ. F.S.A.
C. PURTON COOPER, ESQ. Q.C., D.C.L., F.R.S., F.S.A.
T. CROFTON CROKER, ESQ. F.S.A, M.R.I.A.
SIR HENRY ELLIS, K.H., F.R.S., Sec. S.A.
JAMES ORCHARD HALLIWELL, ESQ. F.R.S., F.S.A.
THE REV. JOSEPH HUNTER, F.S.A.
SIR FREDERICK MADDEN, K.H., F.R.S., F.S.A.
JOHN HERMAN MERIVALE, ESQ. F.S.A.
THE REV. LANCELOT SHARPE, M.A., F.S.A.
THOMAS STAPLETON, ESQ. F.S.A.
WILLIAM J. THOMS, ESQ. F.S.A., Secretary.
THOMAS WRIGHT, ESQ. M.A., F.S.A.
INTRODUCTION.
The narrative published in the present volume not only affords a curious picture of the state of Ireland in the reign of Edward II., but it forms an interesting chapter in the history of English superstition. Witchcraft was one of the oldest and most deeply-rooted articles of the super- stitious belief of the people, and seems to have existed among all nations. Among the Anglo-Saxons it was made a punishable offence both by the secular laws and by the ecclesiastical constitutions. In the Pcenitential of Theodore, composed in the seventh century, various degrees of penitence are enjoined to magicians and enchanters, and those who deal in charms ; to those who work people's destruction or endeavour to gain their love by witchcraft ; to those who consult diviners ; to those who cause tempests ; to and to several other similar offences.* Early in the century following,
* Theodori Arch. Cant. Liber Poenitentialis, xxvij. § 8—22. Thorpe's edit, of the Saxon Laws, p. 292. Non licet clericos vel laicos, magos aut incantatores existere aut facere philacteria, quae animarura suarum vincula comprobentur ; eos autem qui his utuntur, ab secclesia pelli proecipimus. Si quis maleficio suo aliquem perdiderit
Si quis pro amore veneficus sit, et neminem perdiderit
Si autem per hoc mulieris partum quis deceperit Si quis ariolos quserit, quos
divinos vocant, vel aliquas divinationes fecerit, quia et hoc daemoniacum est. ... Si quis sortes habuerit, quas sanctorum contra rationem vocant, vel aliquas sortes
habuerit, vel qualicnnque malo ingenio sortitus fuerit, vel divinaverit Si qua
mulier divinationes vel incantationes diabolicas fecerit Si qua mulier filium
suum vel filiam super tectum pro sanitate posuerit, vel in fornace Qui grana
arserit ubi mortuus est homo, pro sanitate viventium et domus Si quis, pro
sanitate filioli, per foramen terras exierit, illudque spinis post se concludit Qui
divinationes expetunt, et more gentilium subsequuntur ; aut in domos suus hujusmodi
homines introducunt, exquirendi aliquid arte malefica, aut expiandi causa Si
quis adarbores, vel ad fontes, vel ad lapides, sive ad cancellos, vel ubicunque, excepto in secclesia Dei, votum voverit, aut exsolverit, ill. annos cum pane et aqua posniteat ; et hoc sacrilegium est, vel daemoniacum. Qui vero ibidem ederit, aut biberet, i. an- num poeniteat in pane et aqua. Si quis in kalendas Januarii in cervulo aut vetula vadit, id est, in ferarum habitus se commutant, et vestiuntur pellibus pecudum, et as-
ft
II INTRODUCTION.
twelve months' penitence is enjoined to any woman who may exercise witchcraft ; and seven years if she kill any one by her art.* In the eccle- siastical canons enacted under king Edgar,! it is urgently recommended " that every priest zealously promote Christianity, and totally extinguish (very heathenism ; and forbid well-worshipings and necromancies, and divinations, and enchantments, and man-worshipings, and the vain prac- tices which are carried on with various spells, and with frith-splots and with elders, and also with various other trees, and with stones, and with many various delusions, with which men do much of what they should not.*' And in the law of the Northumbrian priests,^ it is ordered that, M If any one be found that shall henceforth practise any heathenship, either by sacrifice or by Jyrt, or in any way love witchcraft, or worship idols, if he be a king's thane let him pay x half marks ; half to Christ, half to the king."
Witchcraft was rightly considered as a relic of paganism, and was as such proscribed by all the earlier ecclesiastical laws : but its existence was not doubted, and it was looked upon with the more horror, as being the supposed result of some kind of intercourse with the spirits of evil, the " demons" who were generally supposed to have been the objects and supporters of idolatry. These demons were believed either to be com- pelled to perform certain things by spells which bound them, or to be excited to act in favour of persons who performed certain acts of su- perstitious worship : but we do not find among the Anglo-Saxons any traces of those compacts with the evil-one which became so famous in after
summit capita bestiarum ; qui vero taliter in ferinas species se transformant, in. an- nos poeniteant ; quia hoc dzemoniacum est. Si quis mathematicus est, id est, per invocationem dsemonum hominis mentem converterit .... Si quis emissor tempestatis fuerit, id est maleficus Si quis ligaturas fecerit, quod detestabile est.
* Confe«sionale Ecgberti, c. 29. p. 355. Si mulier artem magicam, et incantationes, et maleficia exerceat, xii. menses, vel tria legitima jejunia, vel zL dies jejunet : sciatur quantum sit flagitium. Si maleficiis suis aliquem occiderit, vii. annos jejunet. Compare the Poenitentiale Ecgberti, 1. iv. c. 16. p. 379. Si quis alterum veneficio perdiderit, vii. annos jejunet, iii. in pane et aqua, et iiii. iii. diebus per hebdomadam in pane et aqua. C. 18. Si quis veneficiis utatur, alicujus amoris gratia, et ei in cibo dederit, vel in potu, vel per alicujus generis incantationes, ut eorum amor inde auge- atur ; si laicus hoc faciat, dimidium anni jejunet, diebus Mercurii et Veneris, in pane et aqua, et aliis diebus fruatur cibo suo, excepta carne sola.
f C. 1G. Thorpe's Laws, p. 396. f C. 48. lb. p. 419.
I \ I KHIII ( I ION. Ill
times. Tin* secular lawi considered witchcraft as i crime io far as it irti
supposed to be a means of inflicting personal injury, and COOpled it with murder. Thus in the laws of Edward and (iuthrun,* M If witches or di- viners, perjurers, <>r morjft-workera, or foul, defiled, notorious adulterei
he found anywhere within the land; let them he driven iVom the country and the people cleansed, or let them totally perish within the country, unless they desist, and the more deeply make hot" In those of* king T;.thclstan,j- " And we ha\e ordained respecting withcrafts and lyblaCS
and morth-dcedis it' anyone should be thereby killed, and lie could not deny it, that he he liable in his lite. But if he will deny it, and at the threefold ordeal shall be guilty, that he be cxx. days in prison : and after that let his kindred take him out, and give to the king- cxx. shillings, and pay the wer to his kindred, and enter into borh for him, that he evermore desist from the like."
This enactment is repeated in the laws of king Ethelred, and in those of Cnut.;}: The latter adds, " and we earnestly forbid every heathenism. Heathenism is, that men worship idols ; that is, that they worship heathen gods, and the sun or moon, fire or rivers, water-wells or stones, or forest- trees of any kind ; or love witch-craft, or promote moi'th-work in anywise ; or by blot, or fyrht, or perform anything pertaining to such illusions."
Remarkable instances of Anglo-Saxon witchcraft proceedings will be found in the Life of Hereward, which was published from a manuscript at Cambridge by the editor of the present volume. §
In the twelfth century we find in England as elsewhere the belief in witchcraft widely developed. Already, at this early period, we meet with allusions to the witches' sabbaths, or great assemblies. John of Salisbury speaks of the popular belief in a spirit named Herodias, who called together the witches to meetings by night, where they had feasting, and all kinds of mummery ; different individuals exercising different ministeries and occu- pations, some being punished for offences and others rewarded for their deserts, with other more horrible circumstances. || From this time forward
* C. 11. Thorpe's Laws, p. 74. t C. 6. ib. p. 86.
\ See ib. pp. 135 and 162.
§ See Vit. Hereward. cc. 23, 24, 25, in the Chroniques Anglo-Normantles, Rouen, 1837, vol ii. pp. 68, 70, 75.
|| Quale est quod noctieulam quandam vel Herodiadem, vel preesidem noctis domi-
IV INTRODUCTION.
we meet with frequent allusions to dame Herodias, or Diana, or Habundia, for she went bv all these names, and she is proscribed in many of the ecclesiastical constitutions.* She was attended by a company of fairies, or, as thev were called, good-women. This superstition was of very old date in continental Europe. In the Romance of the Rose, composed at the end of the thirteenth century, we have the following account of dame Habonde :
" Maintes gens, par lor folie,
Cuident estre par nuit estries
Errans avecques dame Habonde;
Et dient, que par tout le monde
Li tiers enfant de nacion
Sunt de ceste condicion,
Qu'il vont trois fois en la semaine,
Si cum destinee les maine,
Et par tous ces ostex se boutent,
Ne cles ne barres ne redoutent,
Ains s'en entrent par les fendaces,
Par chatieres et par crevaces,
Et se partent des cors les ames,
Et vont avec les bonnes dames
Par leus forains et par maisons :
Et le pruevent par tiex raisons,
Que les diversites veues
Ne sunt pas en lor liz venues."
Rom. de la Rose, 1. 18,624. Witches appear not to have been rigorously persecuted until after witch- craft was placed by the Church under the head of heresies, and the most revolting articles of the popular belief laid to the charge of the different
nam, consilia et conventus de nocte asserunt convocare : varia celebrari convivia : ministeriorum species diversis occupationibus exerceri : et nunc istos ad poenam trahi pro mentis, nunc illos ad gloriam sublimari. Praeterea infantes exponi lamiis, et nunc frustratim discerptos edaci ingluvie in ventrem trajeetos congeri, nunc praesidentis miseratione rejectos in cunas reponi. Johan. Salisb. Policraticus, lib. i. c. 17.
* See on this subject Grimm'6 Deutsche Mythologie, pp. 594 — 597, and the extracts in the Appendix to the Introduction to the present volume. See also my Selection of Latin Stories, p. 21, and the Reliquiae Antiquae, vol. i. p. 285.
i NTROD1 CTION. v
sects who sought to reform, or separate themselves from, the Romish church. We find it thus classed in the thirteenth century in the itatntet of the Cistercian order.*
The privacy with which the meetings of proscribed sectarians were necessarily conducted, rendered it easy for calumny to transfer to them the abominable scenes which were supposed to take place at the witches' sabbath, and nothing was calculated to render their cause more unpopular ; for witchcraft and sorcery were more fearful in the eyes of the vulgar than heresy itself. The charge has been frequently repeated in different ages and under different circumstances. Not to speak of the Gnostics and other sects of antiquity, the orgies of the witches were without doubt the types of the worst accusations brought against the Templars ; and similar charges at a much later period were made against the the Huguenots in France and against the Puritans in England. The earliest instance of the direct combination of the charges of heresy and sorcery is presented by the sect of the Waldenses, or Vaudois. A singular account of the origin of this sect is given in an early anonymous tract on the history of the Carthusian order, where it is stated that a Vaudois, who lived at Lyon, following the letter of the New Testament, quitted all his riches to embrace voluntary poverty, and caused some of the books of the Bible to be trans- lated into the vulgar tongue. The followers of this man, when they found themselves overcome and refuted by the power of the Catholics, as a last resource entered into league with the devil, and became sorcerers, and from that time they were commonly nick-named Scobaces, or riders upon a scoba or besom. Many of them were seized and burnt. The writer of this tract gives the story of one of these heretics named William Edeline, who had been first a Carmelite, next a Carthusian, and lastly a Benedictine monk. He finally joined the Waldenses, and entered into a league with the devil, who for that purpose appeared to him in human form. From
* Statuta Cap. General. Ordinis Cisterciensis, anni M.cc.xc, c 2. apud Martene, Thes. novus Anecdot. vol. iv. p. 1485. Item, ad detestandum crimen sortilegii, quod est qucedam species hareticce pravitatis, definitioni olim editae de sortilegiis generale enpituhim ducit provide hoc addendum, quod qusecumque persona ordinis seu mo- nachus vel conversus super hoc tanto crimine fuerit deprehensus, non promoveatur ad aliquas dignitates, nee ad actus legitimos admittatur, sed ultimus omnium et omni sexta feria sit in pane et aqua usque ad nutum capituli generalis, et hsec definitio ex- tenditur ad universas ordinis moninales.
VI INTRODUCTION.
this period the proselyte lost all sharae ; as a proof of his subjection to the evil one. the hitter in the shape of a goat obliged him to ki>s pudendam corporis partem ; and he was present at all the nightly meetings of the Scobaces, who were carried through the air to the spot, and acted as their preacher, joining in all their abominable ceremonies. He was at length seised and brought to punishment by the bishop of Evreux.* A tract of
* Anon, de Orig. Carthus. (ap. Martene, Amplissima Collect, torn. vi. p. 55, et seq.) Cap. xxv. De haeresi Valdensium seu pauperum de Lugduno. Valdensium haeresis seu pauperum de Lugduno circa hoc tempus contra Christum Dominum nostrum im- pudenter surrexit, quae nos ut caeterae haereses multum turbavit, cujus inventor fuit diabolica inspiratione delusus, Yaldensis quidam, civis Lugdunensis. Hie cum dives esset, relictis omnibus, paupertatem evangelicam sectari voluit, zelum Dei forte habens, sed non secundum scientiam. Qui scribi fecit aliquos Bibliae libros in vulgari cum
nonnullis sanctorum auctoritatibus Nam miserrimi isti videntes sibi resisti et
condradici per praelatos et pastores nostros, per praedicatores ac religiosos, et quod diutius aperte et palam nequeunt malignari, ad alia conversi sunt perditionis argumenta. Horum siquidem plurimi daemonum invocatores facti et cum eis paciscentes sortilegi facti sunt, nefanda cum humani generis hoste habentes susurria, damnandaque com-
mercia. Hi pepigerunt fcedus cum morte, et cum inferno fecerunt pactum
Memini me, in adolescentia, antequam hunc ordinem ingrederer, multa de hujusmodi sortilegis, qui vulgo scobaces dicuntur, audisse. Nam tunc et deioceps plures capti fuerunt in nostra provincia et combusti, qui prius in arcta positi quaestione, horrenda fatebantur. De quorum uno, si tamen id tibi rectum videtur, aestimo non silendum. .... Ttaque, ut jam dixi, ante ordinis hujus ingressum fuit quidam Guillelmus Edeline dictus, theologiae sacrae professor prius, sed, ut post in propatulo patuit, ipsius per- secutor. Hie prius Carmelita, inde ad Cartusienses accedens, sed non longo post tempore eos deserens, dispensatus, immo melius dissipatus ab ordine, ad sancti reli- gionem Benedicti se transtulit : qui postea diabolica improbitate tanta extitit am- bitione absorptus, quod ut ad affectatas male indigneque cupitas pervenire posset dignitates, cum hoste crudeli pactum fecit, et ipsum prius in humana effigie, ut facilius d'ciperet apparentem, adoravit, ejus manum nefariam flexis poplitibus obsculando . . . Postquam hunc miserum humani generis hostis loris infidelitatis tenuit fortiter alliga- tum, nequaquam ei quod egerat suffecit, sed ipsum ad deteriora pertraxit. Nempe jam non in humana effigie, sed in vilissimi hirci forma sese ostentans, ad hoc perversum ac detestandum et omnino inhonestum perduxit, ut euin adorando ipsam pudendam corporis partem, secessum scilicet, oscularetur, abominabilior certe factus quam equus et mulus, quibus non est intellectus. Hie insuper ad id perfidiae deductus est miser, ut in ipsorum scobacium detestando conventu, qui ad certum noctibus per aera, ut ipsi missi confessi sunt, deportabantur locum. Hie, inquara, infelix inimici praeco factus est, et qui quondam fuerat praeco veritatis, factus est nuntius hostis, miseris ita dicens : Vos ipsos, ut decet, ad dominum et magistrum vestrum recipien-
INTRODUCTION vu
the fourteenth century, printed in the Reliquie Antique, among other charges against the Waldenses, says, I. That they performed impure acti and ceremonies in their meetings ; 2. Thai the devil appeared to them in the form of a cat) and thai they kissed him tub cauda ; and, .'3. Thai
they rode on sticks anointed with a certain ointment, which carried them in a moment to the place of assignation. The writer, however, adds that they had not done these things in his neighbourhood for a length of time.* We seem to recognise, under these horrihle accusations, the per- secuted reformers, while few and weak, hurrying in the darkness to their stolen prayer-meetings.
Limborch, in his History of the Inquisition, speaks of a sect in Italv, about the year 1400, who held similar assemblies, generally on the Thurs- day night, when the devil appeared to them in the shape of a man : there, after having renewed their faith and baptism, they performed certain acts of allegiance to the evil one as to their acknowledged lord. These meetings were called the play of the good people, and the initiated went thither some on foot, and some were carried through the air.f In the middle of
dum praeparate. Taceo de abnegatione Sanctae Trinitatis, Jesu Christi Domini nostri ac suae dignissimae Matris, dignissimi crucis vexilli, sanctorum sacramentorum, et aliorum quae fideles credere tenentur et servare. Nam ilia horrenda sunt ipso auditu. Nam ille, postquam diu in tali errore mortuus in anima vixit, deprehensus captus est, et in manus Ebroicensis honorandi pontificis traditus, qui et sacros mihi ordines omnes
contulit in ipsa Ebroicensi civitate Hanc narrationem sic diffuse duplici de
causa posui, ad cautelam scilicet multorum, qui forte possent seduci ab his Valdensibus, seu scobacibus, quorum multi, quamvis ignoti, supersunt non dubito.
* Item, habent etiam inter se mixtum abhominabile et perversa dogmata ad hocapta, sed non reperitur quod abutantur in partibus istis a multis temporibus. Item, in aliquibus aliis partibus apparet eis daemon sub specie et figura cati, quern sub cauda sigillatim osculantur. Item, in aliis partibus super unum baculum certo unguento perunctum equitant, et ad loca assignata ubi voluerint congregantur in momento dum volunt. Sed ista in istis partibus non inveniuntur. Reliquiae Antiquae, vol. i. p. 247.
f Sortilegis commode subjunguntur lamiae, aut maleficae, quas in Italia communiter strigias vocant, ad similitudinem strigis nocturnae et importunae avis, quia noctu praecipue dicuntur in maleficiis versari, et infantium sanguinem sugere. Alii vocant magas, incantatrices, aliisque nominibus. Dicuntur fuisse secta virorum, et praecipue mulierum, quae circa annum ciocccc. in Italia orta esse dicitur : congregari autem certis locis per oppida et villas certis temporibus, praecipue nocte diem veneris prae- cedente, ipsisque apparere diabolum in forma humana visibili ; quando sectae illi
Vlll IXTRODl'CTION.
the fifteenth century the old charges against the Waldenses were revived in Flanders and Artois. Their assembly was called a Vaudoisie (Waldesia), and there they met the evil one, and performed the same acts of impiety and impurity which are said to have been acted at the sabbaths of the witches. Many of these unfortunate people were burnt at Douais. Arras, and other places, professing at the stake their innocence, which was acknowledged by a judgment of the Parliament of Paris in 1491.*
Till the fourteenth century, witchcraft and sorcery appear to have been
nomen volunt dare, quod primo et ante omnia jussu diaboli abnegent sanctam fidem et sanctum baptisma, dominum Deum, et Beatam Yirginem Mariam, et postea crucem aliquam ab una strigiarum terrae inscriptam conculcent : quibus omnibus peractis faciunt fidelitatem in manibus ipsius Diaboli, acceptantes eum in dominum suum, promittuntque ei obedientiam in omnibus ; et in signum horum omnium manu sinistra post tergum versa diaboli manum tangunt, eidemque aliquid offerunt in signum sub- jectionis. Exinde dicuntur credere diabolum verum suum esse dominum ac deum ; et quotiescunque vadunt ad nocturnam illam congregationem, quam ludum bona so- cietatis appellant, diabolo in forma humana apparenti reverentiam facere, ipsumque capite profunda inclinato ut verum suum Deum adorare. Ad hanc congregationem, seu ludum, dicuntur vigilantes et sensibus bene utentes vere ac corporaliter vadere ; pedibus quidem, si loca sint propinqua : si vero distantia, deferri a diabolo per aerem. Limborch. Historia Inquisitionis, lib. iii. c. xxi.
* Circa annum 1460 in Flandria et Artesia inquisitio admodum saeviit, contra quosdam, qui falso magiae et occulti cum Satana foederis insimulabantur, qui, ad conflandam Valdensibus invidiam, Valdenses nuncupabantur : locus autem, in quo nocturnos suos coetus habere dicebantur, Valdesia. Duaci, Atrebati, aliisque in locis, diversis temporibus plures ad requisitionem Petri Brussardi inquisitoris in carcerem sunt conjecti. Hi, tormentis victi, quicquid ipsis exprobratum fuit confitebantur : inter alia, quod se Satanse devovissent, ilium adorassent, cum ipso carnaliter commixti essent, aliaque quae nullam merentur fidem. Ad rogum damnati, innocentes se pro- testabantur, et publice coram omnibus alta voce proclamabant, nunquam se in Valdesia (ita, uti diximus, coetus ille nocturnus magorum et diaboli vocabatur) fuisse, sed a judicibus esse deceptos, qui blandis promissis, quibus vita ac omnia bona ipsis pro- mittebantur si crimina objecta confiterentur, ex ipsis elicuerint falsam criminum a se nunquam commissorum confessionem : alii aiebant tormentis falsam sibi confessionem expressam : tandem orabant astantes ut pro se Deum precarentur, mediisque in flammis animas suas Deo commendabant. Illorum tamen innocentia postea patuit : nam anno 1491 miseri hi, cum aliis ob eandem causam in carcerem conjectis, sententia Parliamenti Parisiensis declarati sunt innocentes, bonaque ipsis restituta; judicibus vero gravis mulcta pecuniaria est irrogata. — Limborch, Historia Inquisitionis, lib. i. c. xxiii.
INTRODUCTION. II
crimes cognizable in die secular, and do! in the ecclesiastical, courts. We find an instance bo early -'is the reign of king John, where tin- per
accused was tried by tin' ordeal of hot iron, and acquitted.* The trial oi* witches by the ordeal was the origin of the more recent popular trial l.\
dipping in the water, a custom which in Prance was forbidden by a decision of the parliament at the beginning of the seventeenth century. The prose- cutions tor witchcraft did not take the dark character which they afterwards
assumed, till they had been adopted as ;i part ot the charges against heretic- ; and in the papacy of John XXII., during the reign of our Edward II., they became still more serious by being used as means of personal or political
Vengeance. French history presents us with several examples at the period of which we are speaking. In one year, \'-)'24, two remarkable prosecutions for witchcraft occur in Ireland and in England: the former was the case of dame Alice Kyteler (narrated in the present volume), the other was a pretended attempt to bewitch the king", the two Dcspensers, and others, in order to bring about their death. An account of this latter case will he found at the end of this Preface : the offenders were tried in a common law court, and were acquitted. It was only in Ireland that the witches were prosecuted by the Church as heretics. We learn from the Year Book that a man was arrested on suspicion of sorcery in the 45th year of Edward III., and brought before the justice of the King's Bench, by whom he was acquitted for want of evidence,f which shows that it was still looked upon merely as an offence against common law.
During the fourteenth century the question of witchcraft seems to have been much agitated, and the Church appears to have been actively cmplovcd in seeking it out. There is a long chapter on the subject in the Wicliffite treatise published by the Camden Society, and it is earnestly forbidden
* Abbreviatio Placitorum, p. 62. Placita apud Westmonast. in octab. Sancti II il- *arii anno regni regis Jobannis decimo. Norf. Agnes uxor Odonis mercatoris appel- lavit Galienam de sorceria, et ipsa liberata est per judicium ferri. Et ideo Agnes remanet in misericordia.
f Year Book, vol. iv. p. IT. De termino Trinitatis anno xlv. regni regis Edwarrii tertii. Nota, Que un home fust prise en Southwark ovesque un test et un visage d'un home mort, et ovesque un livre de sorcery en son male, et amesne devant Sir J. Knivet justice en bank le roy, mes nul endictment sur luy, per que les clerks luy fierent jurer que jammes ne serroit sorcerer, et fuit deliver^ del prison, et le teste et le livre arse a Toutbil as costages le prisone, &c.
t AMD. soc. C
X INTRODUCTION.
in the directions for priests in the management of their parishes, &c, which art' found in old manuscripts. In an English tract of this kind, among the enumeration of various offences, we have the following passage : — " Also alle that knoweth eresye, conjuracyons, nygramancye, enchaunttementes, wythecraftes, other any other false byleve a5en the feyth of holycherche, bote hy dystrwye hyt by here power, and alle that beth y-ordeyned to en- quere therof, hyf they leve here swte and sufFre hem." * And a Latin tract on penitence and confession in the same MS. gives us rather a curious enumeration of the different forms of conjuration then in use.f
Early in the following century, A.D. 1406, we find the king, Henry IV. giving directions to the bishop of Norwich to search for and arrest witches and sorcerers of different kinds who were then reported to be very numerous in his diocese, and to convert them from their evil ways or bring them speedily to punishment. + In the following reign these prosecutions appear
* MS. Burney, in Mus. Brit. No. 356, p. 100.
f Recurrens igitur poenitens ad primum mandatum, quod est, non adorabis deos ulienos, et sollicite videat in semetipso si transgressus est illud, videlicet si cultum soli Deo debitum daemoniis vel alii creaturae exhibuerit, scilicet faciendo praestigia, id est, recurrendo ad conjurationes, sicut solebat fieri pro furto, in gladio, vel in pelvi, sive in speculo, vel in scriptis inclusis luto impositis in aqua benedicta, et similia, vel recur- rendo ad auguria, id est, divinares, vel sortilegium fecerit, vel sorciarias pro talibus con- sulerit, sive daeraonibus sacrificaverit, sicut faciunt miseri et fatui pro mulieribus quas amant, et similiter e contrario. MS. Burney, No. 356, p. 63. The glass is a well known instrument of conjuration, and the basin is alluded to in old ballads.
X Rot. Pat. 7 Hen. IV. printed in the Fcedera, torn. iv. pt. i. p. 93.
De sortilegis capiendis.
Rex venerabili in Christo patri P. eadem gratia episcopo Lincolniensi, salutem. Quia datum est nobis intelligi, quod quamplures sortilegi, magici, incantatores, nigro- mantici, divinitores, arioli, et phitones infra dicecesim vestram existunt, qui diversa horribilia et detestabilia indies perpetrant, et quamplures de populo nostro, infra dice- cesim praedictam, suis maleficis artibus perverti et diffamari faciunt dampnabiliter et inique, in populi nostri commotionem, et sanctae matris ecclesiae scandalum, ac fidei catholicae subversionem manifestam, unde quamplurima incommoda et inconvenientia infra dicecesim praedictam ante haec tempora evenerunt, et majora, quod absit, evenire formidantur infra breve, nisi de remedio oportuno per potestatem regiam celerius ordi- netur, nos, hujusmodi incommodis et inconvenientiis obviare, ac fidem catholicam (cujus sumus et esse volumus defensores) impugnantes, juxta eorum demerita, puniri et quantum ad nos attinet castigari volentes, assignavimus vos ad omnes et singulos hujusmodi sortilegos, magicos, incantatores, nigromanticos, divinitores, ariolos, et
I NTTRODI CTION. XI
to have become much more numerous. We find in one year ( L432), within a few days of each other] two records of orders from the privy council for the arrest of persons charged with Borcery. One of the persons thus ordered to be seized, with all his hooks and other materials of conjuration,
was a Franciscan friar of Worcester, named Thomas Northfield :* of the persons mentioned in the other document alluded to, one was also a friar named John Ashwell, and Ins companions were a "clerk" named John
phitones, ubicumque eos infra dioecesim praedictam, tarn infra libertates, quam extra invtnii i contigerit, coram vobis seu sufficientibus deputatis vestris, quotiens necesse furrit, evocandnm et diligenter cxaminandum, et eos, cum inde legitime convicti faerint, vel prius, si vobis videbitur faciendum, prisonis committendum, in eisdem detinendos, quousquc a suis maleficiis hujusmodi resipiscant, aut nos pro eorum deli- beratione aliter duxerimus ordinandum ; et ideo vobis mandamus quod circa praemissa diligenter intendatis, et ea faciatis et exequamini in forma prsedicta : Damus autem universis et singulis, tam viris ecclesiasticis, quam vicecomitibus, majoribus, ballivis, constabulariis, ac aliis ministris et fidelibus nostris, in singulis comitatibus infra dioe- cesim praedictam, tam infra libertates quam extra, tenore praesentium firmiter in man- datis quod vobis et deputatis vestris bujusmodi in praemissis faciendis et exequendis, pareant et intendant, prout decet. In cujus, &c. Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium, ij. die Januarii.
* Rot. Pat. 10 Hen. VI. Foedera, vol. iv. pt. iv. p. 177.
De sortilego arestando.
Rex dilecto et fideli suo Johanni Colepeper, ac dilecto sibi Roberto Passemer ser- vienti suo ad arma, salutem. Sciatis quod quibusdam certis de causis coram nobis et concilio nostro propositis, assignavimus vos conjunctim et divisim ad Thomam North- felde, sacrae paginae professorem, ordinis praedicatorum, apud civitatem Wygorniae com- morantem, capiendum et arestandum, necnon ad omnimodo libros suos, tractantes materiam sortilegae pravitatis, seu quascumque alias materias suspectas, scrutandum, capiendum seu arestandum, et ipsum Thomam, ac libros suos taliter suspectos, salvo et secure coram concilio nostro, omni celeritate possibili, adducendum, ad respon- dendum super hiis quae sibi ex parte nostra objicientur tunc ibidem, et ad faciendum ulterius et recipiendum quod per nos et dictum consilium nostrum consideratum fuerit in hac parte ; et ideo vobis mandamus quod circa praemissa diligenter intendatis, ac ea faciatis et exequamini in forma praedicta : Damus autem universis et singulis vicecomi- tibus, majoribus, ballivis, constabulariis, ac aliis officiariis, ministris, ligeis et sub- ditis nostris quibuscumque, tam infra libertates quam extra, tenore praesentium firmiter in mandatis quod vobis, seu alteri vestrum in executione praemissorum inten- dentes sint, consulentes, etauxiliantes, quotiens et quando per vos, seu alterum vestrum, ex parte nostra, fuerint rationabiliter praemuniti. In cujus, &c. Teste Rege apud Westmonasterium, septimo die Maii. Per concilium.
xii INTRODUCTION.
Virley and a woman of the name of Margery Jourdemayn.* The first half of tliis century presents some very remarkable instances of accusations of ■eery on the continent, of which the most celebrated was the case of Joane of Arc-. She was charged among other things with having attended the nightly meetings of the witches at a fountain by the fairies' oak of Bourle- mont near Domprein , where was held the witches' sabbath on Thursday night of every week : with having gone alone to the said oak during the TY.mce of divine service, in order to make garlands and crown the oak with various songs and ceremonies, which garlands were carried away by the fairies in the night ; with carrying mandrake in her bosom, to ensure success and good fortune ; with possessing a miraculous sword, which she had obtained by means of the evil spirits and bv her enchantments ; with having charmed rings, and with causing charmed banners to be carried by her standard-bearers, in order to secure victory over her opponents ; and with having seduced the king and the duke of Bourbon by means of certain evil spirits, whom she caused to appear to them.f In 1459, a great multitude
* MS. Cott. Cleopatra F. iv. f. 58. De sort'degis cancellario deliberandis. — Nono die Maii, anno decimo, virtute brevis regii, domino Waltero Hungerford, con- stabulario castri regis de Wyndesore, directi, conduxit Margeriam Jourdemayn, Jo- hannem Virley clericum, et fratrem Johannem Ashe well ordinis Sanctae Cruris London., nuper custodiae suae pro sorcerye in dicto castro commissos, usque concilium regis apud Westmonasterium, et ibidem, de mandato dominorum de concilio, deliberavit dictam Margeriam, Jobannem, et fratrem Johannem domino cancellario, et exoneratus est de caetero de eorum custodia.
Eodem die concordatum et concessum est per dominos de concilio, quod quando- cumque dictus Johannes Verley, et frater Johannes Asshewell, invenerint sufficientem securitatem, coram dicto domino cancellario, de caetero se bene gerendo, quod ipse dimittat eos exonerates de prisona, et quod simili modo dicta Margeria exoneretur de prisona, sub securitate mariti sui in cancellaria regis facienda.
t The following extracts from the process are given, with corrections, from Delrio, Disquisit. Magicar. f. 781, as being the book most ready at hand at the moment. An. 1430. Cum prope Compendium potita esset hostium, Parisiensis Universitas lit- teris publicis earn apud Henricum Angliae regem accusavit sortilegii et maleficii : causae praetensae fuere sequentes, quae, etsi falso praetexebantur, ostendunt tamen sensum ecclesiasticie curiae, et almae academiae illius temporis. Promotor itaque fiscalis, qui- cbim Guilhelmus de Estivel, aut, ut in actis, et in sententia delegati apostolici vocatur, Joanne* de Estfret: ubi in articul. A. dicitur arbor quaedam fuisse apud Dompreum, ubi solitae convenire maleficae et misceri daemonibus. Que pris de Domprein y a un gran 1 et \icux arbrc, qu'on nomine l'arbre charrm' fee de Bourlemont, et que aprOs
I RTR0D1 (I k»n. Xl11
of persona were persecuted and many put to death at Arms under the Dame of Vaudois, for pretended Beta of witchcraft Monstrelei gives us an aocomrJ of this u terrible and pitiable case," which seems to have been the wine or connected with, thai already alluded to in our extract from Limborch in a former page. According to Monstrelet, it was pretended thai tin
people were carried through the air to hold their aasembliet in wild places,
where the devil appeared to them, and where they performed all the dis- gusting extravagances of the witches' sabbath: a number of wretched people were seized by the magistrates, and by means of dreadful tortures
were compelled to accuse many persons of wealth and respectability, who
de cost arbre y a une fontaine, pita laquelle on diet que frequentent les malins esprits, aveeque lesquels se raeslent de nuict les sorciers, dansanset gambadans autour desdicts arbre et fontaine. Articul. 5. que le susdicts arbre et fontaine sont surnomtnez des fees. Aussi luy demandcyent, si elle avoit cognoissance de ceux ou celles, qui eertains jours de la sepmaine vont au sabbat avec les fees. Respondit avoir ouy dire qu'on y alloit le jeudy. Articul. 6. qu'elle alloit au diet arbre les heures qu'on celebroit le divin service, a fin que estant lors seulle elle peut a. son ayse danser et caroler autour des lieux susdicts, ou elle faisoit plusieurs bouquets et chapeux des flurs et herbes plus soefves qu'elle trouvoit, et en couronnoit le dit arbre en chantant certains vers et disant quelques mots de sortilege : et y retournant l'endemain, quoy que le soir elle y eust mis les diets cbapelets et guirlandes, si est ce qu'elle n'y trouvoit chose quelconque. Arti- cul. 7. Qu'elle soulloit porter en son sein de la mandragore, esperant par ce moyen en avoir bonne fortune, tant en richesses qu'en autres choses temporelles ; comme si la mandragore avoit en soy telle efficace. Articul. 19. Avoir pris conseil des malins esprits, et que par enchantemens et moyens non permis et illicites elle avoit descouverte certaine espee, qui estoit en l'eglise de Saincte Catherine du Fierbois. Articul. 20. Avoir eu des anneaux charmez, et qu'elle die quelques paroles sortilegues sur son enseigne, et sur les guidors que portoyent les siens, disant que cela servoit pour leur donner bonne fortune en guerre, usant de grandes conjurations, a fin que par ce sort elle bienheurast leurs entreprises : tenant pour tout certain, que tant qu'ils porteroyent ces drapeaux ainsi conjurez, ils ne pouroyent recevoir aucune deffaicte par leurs adver- saires ; et qu'elle se plaignit publiquement a Compeigne, lors qu'elle fust prise, de ce que lessiens avoyent oublie d'aporter ses enseignes, et que pour ce elle estoit tombee en ce malheur, pour ce que ceux qui s'aydant d'arz defenduz, et soubs bon pretexte pre- tendent authoriser leur perversite, ont de coustume de consacrer les instrumens des- quels ils s'aydent. Articul. 36. Que par quelque sort et invocation elle avoit faict paroistre quelque malings esprits au roy et ducque de Bourbon, pour les seduire. Propter hsec universitas Parisiensis, et judices illipriores, judicarunt Joannam sortiariam fuisse et maleficam, aperte docentes se arbitrari, hujusmodi crimina, non illusione qua, sed vere a criminosis hujusmodi committi solita.
Xiv INTRODUCTION.
were obnoxious to the persons connected with the prosecution, and the latter were thofl enabled to satisfy their private vengeance, or gratify their covet- ousness by extorting great sums of money, as Monstrelet openly declares.*
* En ceste annee (1459) en la ville d' Arras, ou pais d'Artois, advint un terrible cas et pitoyable que Ton nommoit Vaudoisie, ne scay pourquoy, mais lour disoit que ce estoyent aucunes gens, honimes et femmes, qui de nuict se transportoyent par vertu du diable des places ou ils estoyent, et soudainenient se trouvoyent en aucuns lieux arriere des gens et bois oves desers, la ou ils se trouvoyent en tresgrand nombre hommes et femmes, et trouvoyent illec un diable en forme d'homme, duquel ils ne veoyent jamais le visage, et ce diable leur lisoit ou disoit ses commandemens et ordonnances, et com- ment et par quelle maniere ils le devoyent adorer et servir, puis faisoit par chacun d'eux baiser son derriere, et puis il bailloit a chacun un peu d'argent, et finablement leur administroit vins et viandes en grand largesse, dont ils repaisoyent : et puis tout a coup chacun prenoit sa chacune : et en ce point s'estandroit la lumiere, et cognois- soyent Tun l'autre charnellement : et ce fait, tout soudainement se retrouvoit chacun en sa place dont ils estoyent partis premierement.
Pour ceste folie furent prins et emprisonnez plusieurs notables gens de la ditte ville d' Arras, et autres moindre gens, femmes folieuses, et autres : et furent tellement gehinez, et si terriblement tormentez, que les uns confesserent le cas leur estre tout ainsi advenu comme dit est, et outre plus confesserent avoir veu et cogneu en leur assemblee plusieurs gens notables, prelats, seigneurs, et autres gouverneurs de bail- liages et de villes : voire tels selon commune renomme, que les examinateurs et les juges leur nommoyent et mettoyent en bouche, si que par force de peines et de tor- mens ils les accusoyent ; et disoyent que voirement il les y avoyent veuz. Et les aucuns ainsi nomme estoyent tantost apres prins, et emprisonnez, et mis a torture, tant et si treslonguement, et par tant de fois, que confesser le leur convenoit, et furent ceux cy qui estoyent des moindres gens executez et brulez inhumainement, aucuns autres plus riches et plus puissans se rachepterent par force d'argent, pour eviter les peines et les hontes que l'on leur faysoit. Et de tels y eust des plus grans, que furent preschez et seduits pars les examinateurs que leur donnoyent a entendre et leur promettoyent s'ils confessoyent le cas, qu'ils ne perderoyent ne corps ne biens. Tels y eust qui souf- frirent en merveilleuse patience et Constance les peines et les tormens, mais ne voule- rent rien confesser a leur prejudice, trop bien donnerent argent largement aux juges, et a ceux qui les pouvoyent relever de leur peines ; autres y eust qui se absenterent, et vuyderent du pais, et prouverent leur innocence, si qu'ils demeurerent paisibles. Et ne faict icy a taire ce que plusieurs gens de bien cogneurent assez, que ceste maniere de accusation fut une chose controuvee par aucunes mauvaises persones, pour grever et destruire ou deshonorer par ardeur de convoitise aucunes notables personnes, que ceux hayoyent de vieille haine : et que malicieusement ils firent prendre meschantes gens tout premierement, ausquels ils faisoyent par force de peine, de tourmens, nom- mer aucunes notables gens, tels que Ton leur mettoit a bouche : lesquels ainsi accusez
I N ITIIODIC TIOS. \V
It was in this dark period of our hist<>r\, the fifteenth eenturv, that in
England charges of sorcery were first raised against people of eminence by their political adyersarieSi One of the most celebrated cases of this kind was that of the duchess of Gloucester in the reign of Henry VI., of which
the Chronicle of London, edited by Sir Harris Nicolas, p. 128, y.i\e> the following account, under the 1 9th year of I lenry VI. (A.l). 144 lj: —
" Also in this same yere the duchesse of (Jloucetere was are-ted and put in holt, for Bhe was suspecte of treson ; and a clerk thai was longyng to here, whiche was clepyd Roger, whiche was taken for werchynge of sorcery ayens tin1 king, and he was put into the Tour; and after, he was brought into Ponies, and there he stood up on high on a scaffold ageyn Poulys crosse on a Sonday, and there he was arraied like as he schulde never the in his garnementys, and there was honged rounde aboughte hym alle hise intrumentis whiche were taken with hym, and so shewyd among all the peple ; and after he was broughte to-fore the lordys, and there he was ex- amyned ; and after broughte to the Yeldehalle, and there he was regned aforen the lordes of the kynges counseill and to-fore alle the juges of this land ; and anon after, the lady of Gloucestre afornseid was mad to apere thre sondry dayes afore the kyng and alle his lordes spirituell and temperell ; and there she was examyned of diverses poyntes of wicchecraft, of the whiche she knowleched that she hadde used thorugh the counseill of the wicche of Eye, the whiche was brent on the even of Symond and Jude in Smythefeld.
" A0. xxm0. In this yere my lady of Gloucestre hadde confessyd here wichecraft, as it is afornseid, she was yoyned be alle the spritualte assent to penaunce, to comen to London fro Westminster on the Moneday next suynge and londe at the Temple brigge out of here barge, and there openly barehede with a keverchef on hir hede, beryng a taper of wax of ijlb. in here hond, and went so thorugh Fletstrete on here foot and hoodies unto Poules, and there she offred up here taper at the high auter ; and on the Wednesday nest suenge she com fro Westminster be barge,
estoyent prins, et tormentez, comme dit est, qui fust pour voir au jugement de toutes gens de bien une chose moult perverse et inhumaine, au grand deshoneur de ceux qui en furent notez, et au tresgrand peril des ames de ceux qui par telz moyens vouloient deshonnorer gens de bien. — Enguerrand de Monstrelet, Histor. lib. ii.
XVI INTRODUCTION.
unto the Swan in Tempae stret»>. and there she londyd. and wentc forthc on here feet thorugh Br trete, Graschirche strete, to the Ledenhalle, and
so to Crichirche in the wyse aforenseyd ; and on Fry day she londed at Quen hithe, and so forth she wente into Chepe, and so to Seym Mighell in Corahull. in the forme aforenseid ; and at iche of the tymes the mair with the schirreves and the craftes of London were redy at the places there she sholde londe : and after, Roger the clerk aforenseyd, on the Satirday, that is to sey the xviij. day of Novembre, was brought to the Yeldehalle, with sire John Horn prest, and William Wodham squyer, the whiche sir John and William hadden there chartres at that tyme ; and the clerk was dampned, and the same day was drawe fro the Tour of London to Tiborn, and there hanged, hedyd, and quartered, and the heed sett upon London bregge ; and his oo quarter at Hereford, another at Oxenford, another at York, and the fourthe at Cambregge ; and the lady put in prison, and after sent to Chestre, there to byde whill she lyvyth."
Another remarkable case was that of the duchess of Bedford in the reign of Edward IV., who was charged with having, by witchcraft, fixed the love of the king on her daughter queen Elizabeth. The following curious ac- count of these accusations is furnished by the Rolls of Parliament of the 9th Edward IV. : —
" Edward by the grace of God, kyng of Englond and of Fraunce, and lord of Irland, to the reverent fader in God Robert byshope of Bathe and Wells, oure chaunceller, greting. Forasmoche as we send unto vou within these oure lettres the tenure of an acte of oure grete counsail, amonge othir thinges, remaynyng in thoffice of oure prive seal, in fourme as folowith : In the chambre of the grete counsaill, callid the parliment-chambre, within the kyngs paleis att Westminster, the x. day of Februarie, the ixth yere of the regne of oure soveraygne lord the kyng Edward the IHIth, in the presence of the same oure soveraigne lord, and my lordis of his grete counsail, whos names ben under writen, a supplicacion addressed unto oure said soveraygne lord, on the behalf of the high and noble princesse Jaquet duchesse of Bed- ford, and two sedules in papier annexed unto the same supplicacion, were openly, by oure saide soveraygne lordis commamidement, radde ; and aftir- ward his highnes, by thavis of my said lordis of his grete counsaill, accept* yng eftsones the declaracion of my said lady specified in the said supplica- cion, according to the peticion of my said lady, commaunded the same to be
INTRODUCTION. wn
enacted of record, and theni|>on let t re- of e\emplili< ■acimi to be made under his <nvte seal in due fourine ; tlie tenure of t lie gtfpplit a< -ion ;ind cedules, wherof abOYe is made mencion, hereafter ensue in tbil WJWB* 1 *0
the kyng oure Boveraygne lord ; Bhewitb and lamentably complayneth unto your Inclines your humble and true liegewomao Jaquei duchesae of Bed- ford) late the wyf of your true and faithful! knyght and liegeman Richard
late erle of liyvers, that where BD.ee at all tynie hath, and x i t doth, treuly heleve on God aceordyng to the feith of Holy C'hirche, as a true critten woman owith to doo, vet Thomas Wake stjuier, contrarie to the la we of God, lawe of this land, and all reason and good OODSCieOI, in the tynie of the late trouble and riotous season, of his malicious disposition towardefl your said oratrice of long tyme continued, entcndynir not oonly to hurt and apaire her good name and fame, but also purposed the fynall distruccion of her persone, and to that eftecte caused her to be brought in a comune now and difclaundre of w ychecraft thorouout a grete part of this youre reaume, surmytting that she shuld have usid wichecraft and sorcerie, insomuche as the said Wake caused to be brought to Warrewyk atte your last beyng there, soveraigne lord, to dyvers of the lords thenne beyng ther present, a image of lede made lyke a man of armes, conteynyng the lengthe of a mannes fynger, and broken in the myddes, and made fast with a wyre, sayyng that it was made by your said oratrice to use with the said wichcraft and sorsory, where she, ne noon for her ne be her, ever sawe it, God knowith. And over this, the said Wake, for the perfourmyng of his malicious entent abovesaid, entreted oon John Daunger, parishe clerk of Stoke Brewerne, in the counte of Northampton, to have said that there were two other images made by your said oratrice, oon for you, soveraygne lord, and anothir for oure soveraigne lady the quene, wherunto the said John Daunger neyther coude ne wolde be entreted to say. WTieruppon it lykid your highnesse, of your noble grace, atte humble sute made unto your highnesse by your said oratrice, for her declaracion in the premisses, to send for the said Wake and the said John Daunger, commaundyng them to attende upon the reverent fadir in God the bishop of Carlisle, the honorable lord therle of Northum- berland, and the worshipfull lords lord Hastyngs and Mount joye, and mayster Roger Radclyff, to be examined by them of such as they coude allegge and say anenst your said oratrice in this behalf; thaxaminacions afore them had apperith in wrytinge herunto annexed ; wherof oon bill is camd. soc. d
XV111 INTRODUCTION".
conteynmg the sayings of Wake, and writte with his owne hand ; and anothir shewyng the saiyngs of the said Daunger, and wrete in the presence of the said lords ; which seen by your highnesse, and many othir lords in this your grete councell, the x\ day of January last passed, then bevng there present, your said oratrice was by your grace and theime takyn clerid and declared of the said noises and disclaundres, which as yet remaygneth not enacted ; forso- much as divers your lords were then absent. Wherfor please it your highnesse, of your most habundant grace and grete rightwisnesse, tenderly to consider the premisses, and the declaracion of your said oratrice had in this behalf, as is afore shewid, to commaunde the same to be enacted in this youre said grete counsaill, so as the same her declaration mav all way remaigne there of record, and that she may have it exemplified undir your grete seall : And she shall continually pray to God for the preservacion of your most royal estate.
" Thomas Wakes bille. Sir, this ymage was shewed and left in Stoke with an honest persone, which delyverid it to the clerk of the said chirche, and so shewid to dyvers neighbours, aftir to the parson in the chirche openly to men both of Shytlanger and Stoke ; and aftir it was shewed in Sewrisley a nounry, and to many other dyvers persones, as it is said, &c. And of all this herd I nor wist no thyng, till after it was sent me by Thomas Kymbell from the said clerc, which I suppose be called John Daunger, which cam home to me, and told me as I have said to my lord of Carlille and to your maistershipp, from which saying as by herdsay I neither may nor will vary. And vf any persone will charge me with more than I have said, I shall discharge me as shall accord with my trouthe and dutee.
" John Daungers bille. John Daunger, of Shetyllanger, sworn and ex- amined, saith, that Thomas Wake send unto hym oon Thomas Kymbell, that tyme beyng his bailly, and bad the said John to send hym the yinage of led that he had, and so the said John sent it by the said Thomas Kymbell, att which tyme the same John said that he herd never noo wichecraft of my lady of Bedford. Item, the same John saith, that the said ymage was delyvered unto hym by oon Harry Kyngeston of Stoke ; the which Harry fonde it in his owne hous after departyng of soudeours. Item, the same John saith, that the said Thomas Wake, after he cam from London, fro the kyng, send for hym and said that he had excused hym-
[NTRODl C riON. XIX
sylf and leyd all the blame to the said John ; and theifor be bad the laid
John say tint he durst not kepe the said image, and that lie \\a» the CailM he send it to t he* said Thomas Wake. Item, the same John «aith, th.it the said Thomas Wake had hvm say that ther was two othir jrmages, OOfl for the kyng, and anothir for tlie (juene ; but the said John denyed to -a\ soo. Present my lords whos names foloweth ; that is to say, my lordif the cardinal] and archebiahop of Caunterbury, tharchebishop of York, the byshops of Bathe, ehauncellor of Englond, Elye, tresorer of Eng- londe, Houehester, keper of the privio seall, London, Duresme, and Karlill; therls of Warrewyk, Essex, Northumberland, Shrewsbury, and Kent ; the lords Hastings, Mountjoye, Lyle, Crowmell, Scropc of Bolton, Say, &c."
These charges were revived after the king's death, as we learn by the " Act for the Settlement of the Crown upon the king and his issue, with a Recapitulation of his Title," of which the following is an extract.*
" Over this, amonges other things, more specially wee consider, howe that, the tyme of the reigne of kyng Edward the iiijtn late deceased, after the ungracious pretensed marriage, as all England hath cause soo to say, made betwixt the said king Edward and Elizabeth sometyme wife to sir John Grey knight, late nameing herself and many years heretofore quene of Englond, the ordre of all poletique rule was perverted, the lawes of God and of Gods church, and also the lawes of nature and of Englond, and also the laudable customes and liberties of the same, wherein every Englishman is inheritor, broken, subverted, and contempned, against all reason and justice, soo that this land was ruled by selfewill and pleasure, feare, and drede, all manner of equite and lawes layd apart and despised, whereof en- sued many inconvenients and mischiefs, as murdres, extorsions, and op- pressions ; namely, of poore and impotent people, soo that no man was sure of his lif, land, ne lyvelode, ne of his wif, doughter, ne servaunt, every good maiden and woman standing in drede to be ravished and de- fouled. And besides this, what discords, inward battailles, effusion of christian mens blode, and namely by the destruction of the noble blode of this londe, was had and comitted within the same, it is evident and notarie thourough all this reame, unto the great sorowe and hevynesse of all true
* Rot. Pari. 1 Ric. III. printed in the Rolls of Parliament, vol. vi. p. 240,
XX INTRODUCTION.
Englishmen. And here also we considre, howe that the seid pretensed marine betwixt the above-named king Edward and Elizabeth Grey was made of grete presumption, without the knowyng and assent of the lords of this lond, and also by sorcerie and wichecrafte, committed by the said Elizabeth and her moder Jaquett duchesse of Bedford, as the common opinion of the people, and the publique voice and fame is thorough all this land ; and hereafter, if and as the caus shall require, shall bee proved sufficiently in tyme and place convenient. And here also we consider, howe that the said pretensed marriage was made privatly and secretely, without edition of banns, in a private chamber, a prophane place, and not openly in the face of the church, aftre the lawe of Goddes churche, but contrarie thereunto, and the laudable custome of the church of Englonde. And howe. also, that at the tyme of contract of the same pretensed marriage, and bifore and longe tyme after, the said king Edward was and stode maryed and trouth-plight to oone dame Elianor Butteler, doughter of the old earl of Shrewesbury, with whome the same kyng Edward had made a precontracte of matrimonie, longe tyme bifore he made the said pretensed mariage with the said Elizabeth Grev, in manner and fourme abovesaid. Which premisses being true, as in veray trouth they been true, it appeareth and followeth evidently that the said king Edward duryng his lif, and the seid Elizabeth, lived together sinfully and dampnably in adultery, against the lawe of God and of his churche ; and therefore noo marvaile that, the souverain lord and the head of this land being of such ungodlv disposicion, and provokyng the ire and indignacion of oure Lord God, such havnous mischieffs and inconvenients, as is above remembred, were used and comitted in the reame amongs the subgects. Also it appeareth evidently and followeth that all thissue and children of the seid king Edward been bastards, and unable to inherite or to clayme any thing by inheritance, by the lawe and custome of Englond."
A principal object of the present volume has been to collect together a few of the least known materials, illustrative of the early history of one branch of our popular superstitions. With this in view, besides the nu- merous documents given in the notes to the foregoing pages, the Editor has thought that it would not be unacceptable to give in a supplement to the preface a few other extracts from sources inedited or not very generally
[mrBOoncTioH. xxi
known connected with this interesting subject. Tht narrative of the proceedings against dame Alice Kyteler are interesting to the historian, as
affording a most remarkable picture of tin turbulent state of Ireland at th<- beginning of the fourteenth century, and of the overbearing conduct of i
proud prelate1 of* the nnrirn rigime. It is a con-olat ion to us to know that the conduct of bishop Lcdrede did not go without retribution even in this world, and that he was not only vi-ited with the same troubles which he had caused to others, but that he was charged with the very crime of heresy which he had urged with so much fierceness against his diocesans. In 1320, four yean before the prosecution of Dame Alice, bishop Ledrede had enacted a series of canons for his diocese which breathe the same spirit he manifests through the following pages, and from which we give in the note a passage that seems to refer to events introductory to those detailed in our narrative,* for further illustrations of which, and an account of the bishop's life, the reader is referred to the notes at the end of the volume.
It remains to state that the following narrative is printed from MS. Harl. No. 641, fol. 187, v°. It is there subjoined to a continuation of the
* Con. 15. Be immunitate ecclesiarum, et jurisdictionem ecclesiasticam impedienti- bus.
Ab exordio cultus divini inter homines, sacerdotes et pontirices fuisse legimus erga populum in sanctificatione et honore, ut patet in Melchisedeck, Aaron, filiis, et eorun- dera successoribus. Pagani etiam et gentiles et Saraceni in sectis suis sacerdotes et pontifices praecaeteris colere solent et honorare, ut patet in Alchorano, et eorum libris. Nam rnagnificus ille mundi monarcha Alexander videns Saddam pontificem sibi oc- currentem, nomen Dei portantem in fronte, pronus in terram procidens adoravit, eumque privilegiis et muneribus multipliciter adornavit. Sed et Constantinus im- perator in pleno concilio generali minorem sacerdotem pontifical! dignitate insignitum ante se praetulit, et tanquam judices animarum episcopos cseteris mortalibus censuit praeferendos ; cujus successores omnes imperatores, reges, et principes catholici epis- copos, tancpiam patres eorum spirituales, et eorum ecclesias donis, libertatibus, pos- sessionibus etiam variis et magnis, quae Christi et ecclesiae patrimonium appellantur, magnifice decoraverunt. Sed et dominus noster Jesus Christus, rex regum et dominus dominantium, summusque pontifex, episcopos successores apostolorum instituit, claves ecclesiae, potestatem solvendi atque ligandi, et sacramentorum administrationem iisdem commisit ; per quos et quorum manus gratia Spiritus Sancti ad salutem animarum in clero pariter et populo per mundum transfunditur universum. Ex quibus concluditur, quod omnis gens, omnis status, omnis secta episcopos et sacerdotes Dei solent bonorare. Sola tamen gens pestifera novella in quibusdam partibus nostris ab aliis terrae fidelibus
XX11 INTRODUCTION.
Chronicle of Martinus Polonus, which is said to have been written by a monk of Glastonbury named John Merylynch, who is mentioned at the end as baring been the possessor of the volume in which it is contained.* It appears that Thomas Hearne had prepared an edition of this continuation for the press, when his literary labours were cut short by death. There is also a transcript of the narrative of the proceedings against dame Alice Kvtcler, made while the manuscript was in the hands of its former pos- sessor, Sir Simonds D'Ewes, among the Clarendon Papers, in the Sloane BllSS. No. 4800. It appears not be an integral part of the continuation of Martinus Polonus, but a mere copy from some original account of the transaction, added to the end of that tract by the continuator, or by Merylynch the possessor of the manuscript. There can be no doubt of its being a contemporary narrative.
I owe the most valuable part of the illustrative notes at the end of this volume to the kindness of Mr. Crofton Croker and Sir William Betham, the Ulster King of Arms. The profound learning of Sir William Betham in everything connected with Irish history is so well known, that it is scarcely necessary for me to say how much I prize his communications.
discrepans, spiritu diabolico plena, a secta omnium Dei cultorum exorbitans, gen- tibus et Judseis crudelior, episcopos sacerdotes Dei summi prosequitur in vita pariter et in morte, spoliando, lacerando Christi patrimonium in dioecesi Ossoriensi, Domini commerendo maledictionem : quorum malitiis, quae plus solito invaluerunt et invales- cunt, cogimur, ut possumus, obviare.
Adhaec cum dispensatio clavium ecclesiae, quas Cbristus apostolis commisit, et episcopis et eorum successoribus, commode exerceri non possit sine ecclesiastica juris- dictione, per quam extirpantur vitia et inseruntur virtutes ; nonnulli tamen iniquitatis filii subditi nostri, instinctu quodam diabolico, episcopis, et eorum ministris, jurisdic- tionem ecclesiasticam secundum canonica instituta exercentibus, minas machinantur gravissimas, ad indictandum, vexandum, et imbrigandum in curiis secularibus ; et per hoc impedire nituntur correctiones peccatorum et salutem animarum, in contemptum Dei et ecclesiae, et cumulum propriae damnationis aeternae : super quo de spirituali remedio statuere compellimur et ordinare. — Wilkins' Concilia, vol. ii. p. 504.
* Liber ffratris Johannis Merylynche de perquisito ejusdem, fol. 206, v°.
APPENDIX TO THE INTRODUCTION.
TRIAL FOR SORCERY IN THE REIGN OF EDWARD II.
(From the Parliamentary Writs, vol. ii. div. ii. p. 269.)
Rot. Plac. coram R. Hil. 18 Ed. II.
Placita coram domino rege apud Westm. de termino | a ^ Sancti Hillarii, anno regni R. E. fil. R. E." decimo /ttii •• octavo. G. le Scrop. p. 2. m. xxxiiii. J r>
Warr. Dominus rex mandavit coronatoribus hospitii sui breve snum in haec verba. — Edwardus Dei gratia rex Angliae, dominus Hiberniae, et dux Aquitaniae, coronatoribus hospitii sui salutem. Quia quibusdam certis de causis volumus certiorari super recordo et processu appelli, quod Ro- bertus Mareschal de Leycestria nuper fecit coram vobis, de diversis feloniis per ipsum et quosdam alios sui complices et fautores in diversis comitatibus regni nostri perpetratis, vobis mandamus quod recordum et processum ejusdem appelli, cum omnibus adminiculis appellum illud tangen- tibus, nobis sub sigillis vestris distincte et aperte mittatis, et hoc breve, ita quod illud habeamus coram nobis in crastino Sancti Martini ubicunque tunc fuerimus in Anglia. Teste me ipso apud Westm. vi. die Novembris anno regni nostri decimo octavo. — Praetextu cujus brevis praedicti coronatores miserunt coram rege appellum praedictum in haec verba : —
Robert le Mareschal de Leycestre ad reconuz devant Simond Croyser, corouner del hostiel nostre seigneur le roi, le Mescredy en la veille de Touz Seyntz, l'an du regne le roi Edward disoeytisme, q'il fust demorrant ove mestre Johan de Notingham, que se fist nigromauncer et demorra en Coventre, et vindrent Richard le Latoner, Geffrei Frebern, Robert le Palmere, Adam de Wolreston, Henri de Hvuton, Hugh de Tuwe, Johan
XXIV APPENDIX TO THE INTRODUCTION".
de Siflet, William de Gloucestre, Johan de Stonleye, Richard le Taillour hosier, Johan le Wallere que sert Alice la Honte, Henri Pake, Robert de Stoue, Robert de Lichefeld, Robert le Mercer que ad espusee la fille Adam de Lyndeseye, Piers Baroun, Phelipp le Hosier, Wautier Chubboc, Rogier le Brai, Johan Frebern, Reynauld de Alesleye gurdeler, William le Wallere, Richard Grauntpe, Johan le filz Hugh de Merington, apprentiz de court, William Russell, Richard de la Grene, et Johan le Redeclerk, hosier de Coventre, et le Mescredy preschein devant la feste Seint Nicholas, l'an disseptisme, a Coventre a les avantditz mestre Johan de Notingham et Robert le Mareschal, et les demaunderent si il voleyent leur counseil celer et il averoient un grant profist. Et mestre Johan les assura par sa foi q'il ne les discovereit poynt ; et le dit Robert assura le dit mestre Johan de celer le counseil. La seurtee faite parentre eux, les avantditz Richard le Latoner et les autres disoient a les avantditz mestre Johan et Robert q'il ne purroient vivre pur la duresce que le priour de Coventre les avoit fait et fist de jour en autre, et pur le meintenaunce qe nostre seigneur le roi, mon- sieur Hugh le Despenser counte de Wyncestre, et monsieur Hugh le Despenser le filz, firent au dit priour, en destruccion de eux et de la ville de Coventre, et demanderent au dit mestre Johan s'il voleit pur le leur donant enprendre de tuer le roi, le counte de Wyncestre, monsieur Hugh le Despenser, le priour de Coventre, et autres q'ils nomereint, par sa nigro- mancie et ses artz. Et il dist qe oyl, et se assenti ; et sur ceo la fesoient covenant ove luy, q il averoit xx. li. d'esterlings, et sa gareison en quelle mesoun de religioun q'il voleit eslire en Engleterre, et au dit Robert xv. li. d'esterlings, de estre eidaunt a les felonies avantdites, desqueux deners les avantditz Richard et les autres paierent au dit mestre Johan a Coventre unze mars, le Dimenge preschein apres la feste Seint Nicholas l'an dissep- tisme en partie de paye de xx li. avantdites, et au dit Robert quatre lyvers des xv li. avantdites meismes le jour, lieu, et an, par les meyns Johan fitz Hugh de Merington et Johan le Redeclerk, a la meson Richard le Latoner, et sept lyvres de cire et deux aunes de canevace, de laquele cire les ditz mestre Johan et Robert fesoient sept images, un apres nostre seigneur le roi coronne de cire, un autre apres le counte de Wyncestre, le tierz apres monsieur Hugh, le quart apres le priour de Coventre, le quint apres le celerer, le sisme apres Nichol Crumpe, seneschal le priour, et le septisme apres un Richard de Sowe, par qui et l'ymage fait apres luy, il voleient
\ I'l'l \ 1)1 \ I O III I INI ItiiDI (Tins. \\\.
prover Lea mitres images i'i] furenl certeyns ou ne mye, par l"a enl ei I'acord le dil Richard el lea autrea. El le dil Robert ad reeonua, qc 1 dit me8tre Johan el lui comencerenl de faire leur meatriea en la fourme avant- <lit<\ Le Lundy prescheio apr&a la feate Seinf Nicholaa, Tan ivii., par I'aasent lea avantditi Richard le Latoner el tea autrea, en une vielle mesoun a une demie luwe de la ville de Coventry desouz le parke de Shorteleye, el ensuii demorerent continuelmenl but leur oevre, tancque le Samady preachein aprds I' Ascension preachein suivant en meiame Tan. El a ceo ad reconuz qe anxi come le di! mestre Johan el lui furenl en la dite vielle meson entour leur oevre, le Vendredi preachein avant la feste de la Seinte Croice I'an xvii,. entour la my nuyt, le clir meBtre Johan bailla an dit Robert une broche de plum acu devant, et lui coinanda q'il la botast la mountaunce de deux pouz parfound en frount de lymage fait apres Richard de Sowe, par qui ils voleient prover les altres ; et il issi le fist : et lendemeyn matyn le dit mestre Johan manda le dit Robert a la meson le dit Richard de Sowe, pur veer en quel eatat il fust, et le dit Robert trova le dit Richard brayaunt et criaunt M harrou !" sanz avoir conissance de mil homme, et si perdi me- moire, et ensuit just le dit Richard languissaut tancque le Dimenge en le journant preschein avant la feste de 1' Ascension preschein suivant, a quel houre le dit mestre Johan treet hors la dite broche de plum hors du frount le dit image fait apres le dit Richard, et la bota tancque a quoer. Et ensi demurra la dite broche au quoer del image, tancque le Mescredi preschien suivant, quel jour le dit Richard morust. La proeve faite du dit Richard en la fourme avantdite, par l'assent les avantditz Richard et les autres, et eux sachauntz le fait.
Praetextu cujus brevis et etiam appelli pra^ceptum fait vie. Warr., quod caperet pra3dictos magistrum Johannem de Notingham, nigromauncer, Ricardum le Latoner, et omnes alios superius appellatos, si inventi, &c. et salvo, &c. ita quod haberet corpora eorum coram rege ad hunc diem scilicet in octabis Sancti Hillarii, ubicunque, &.c. infra quem diem prae- dictus magister Johannes de Notingham captus fuit per speciale ora?ceptum domini regis, &c. et committebatur mar., &c. et vicecomes retournavit de praedictis Ricardo le Latoner et omnibus aliis superius appellatis, quod non sunt inventi in balliva sua, &c. Et super hoc venit pra?dictus magister Johannes de Notingham, per mar. ductus, &c. et praedicti Ricardus le Latoner, Galfridus Frebern, Robertus le Palmere, Adam de Wolreston, C \^m. soc e
XXVI APPENDIX TO THE INTRODUCTION.
Hugo de Tuwe, Johannes de Siflete, Willelmus de Glouccstrc, Johannes de Stonleye, Ricardus le Taillour hosier, Johannes le Wallere serviens Alicia? la Hnnte, Henricus Pake, Robertus de Stoue, Robertus de I iche- feld, Robertus le Mercer qui desponsavit filiam Adae de Lyndeseye, Petrus Baroun, Philippus le Hosier, Walterus Chubboc, Rogerus le Bray, Jo- hannes Frebern, Reginaldus de Alesleye gurdeler, Willelmus le Waller, Johannes filius Hugonis de Merington, apprenticius curia? regis, Willel- mus Russel, Ricardus de la Grene, et Johannes le Redeclerk, hosier de Coventre, venerunt hie in curia, et gratis reddiderunt se prisonae, &c. qui committuntur mar., &c. Et praedictus Robertus le Mareschal [appellator] modo venit per mar. ductus, &c. et quaesitum est ab eo si prosequi velit appellum suum praedictum, versus praedictos magistrum Johannem de Xotingham et alios superius appellatos : dicit quod sic. Et praedictus ma- gister Johannes de Xotingham, appellatus de felonia pra?dicta, et praedicti Ricardus le Latoner, et omnes alii qui se reddiderunt, &c. appellati de scientia et assensu feloniae praedictae, singillatim allocuti qualiter se velint de feloniis et maleficiis praedictis sibi impositis acquietare, defendunt omnem feloniam at assensum feloniae, et quicquid est contra pacem regis, &c, et quod in nullo sunt inde culpabiles ; de bono et malo ponunt se super patriam. Ideo veniant inde jur. coram rege a die Paschae in xv dies ubi- cunque, &c. Et qui nee, &c. Et tarn praedictus Robertus le Mareschal appellator, quam praedicti magister Johannes de Xotingham, Ricardus le Latoner, et alii, interim committuntur Roberto de Dumbelton, mar., <&rc. Postea venerunt Robertus de Kirkeby, Johannes le Botiller, Willelmus de Colshull, Thomas de Solihull, Thomas de Sheldon, Robertus de Ernefford, Rogerus Daisye, Alanus de Wodelowe, Ricardus de Xorton, Willelmus de Ridewar, Willelmus de Allesle, Henricus de Meryngton, et Johannes de Honton, omnes de com. Warn, Willelmus de Xasyng, Martinus Walevs, Henricus de Reygate, Willelmus de Witton, Robertus Lightfot, et Johannes de Pampesworth, omnes de civitnte London., et manuceperunt praedictos Ricardum le Latoner, et alios qui se superius reddiderunt prisonae, &c. ha- bendi eos coram rege ad praefatam quindenam Paschae ubicumque, &c. videlicet corpora per corponbus, &c.
Ad quern diem praedictus Robertus Mareschal, appellator, venit per mar. ductus, &c. et praedicti Ricardus le Latoner, Galfridus Freberne, Robertus le Palmere, Adam de Wolreston, Hugo de Tuwe, Willelmus de Gloucestre,
APPENDIX TO TUB INTRODUCTION. \\\ n
Johannes de Slnnleye, EUc&rdlU le Tail lour, hosier, Jolianm m le Walln<\
wnrienfl Alicia* la Hunte, Henriciu Pake, Robertiu de Stone, Robertas dc Lichefeld, Robertas le Mercer, qui deaponaarit filiam Ada de Lyndeeeye, Petrua Haroun, Phillippos le Hosier, Walterua ('hnl)boe, Rogertu le Bray, Johannes Frebern, Reginaldus de Aiesleye, Witlelmua le Wallere, Johannea filius Hugonifl de Mcrington, Willelmua Ruaael, Ricardua de la Grene, et Johannes le Redeelerk, venernnt per manucaptionem pra'dictain. Et ri©8- comes non retotimavit breve, 8i.c. Ideo sient prius praeceptinn est vie. quod venire taei.it coram rege a die Sancta? Tlinitatifl in \v dies, ubicunque, &.c. x\iiij"r tain milites quam alios, &c. de visneto de Coventre ad recog-ii., &c., si pnedicti Hicardus le Latoner et alii culpabiles sint de feloniis et maleficiis pra'dictis, necne. Et praedictus Robertus Mareschal appellator interim committitur mar., scilicet Roberto de Dumbelton, &c. Et praedicti Ricar- dus le Latoner et alii appellati interim dimittuntur per manucaptionem Ricardi de Oxewike de comitata NorfF., Willelmi de Dodington de comitatu Northampton, Ricardi de Norton, Walteri de Chaucoumbe, Willelmi de Coventre, et Johannis de Cestre de comitatu Warr., Ricardi Sampson de comitatu Line, Johannis de Turveye de comitatu Hunt., Thomae de Blake- brok de comitatu Kant., Willelmi atte Barre, Radulphi de Lytchurche, et Cristoferi de Enderby de comitatu Derbiae, Johannis de Wykeleye et Johannis de Walshale de comitatu Warr., qui manuceperunt praedictos Ricardum le Latoner et omnes alios superius appellatos, qui prius manucapti fuerunt, habendi eos coram rege ad praefatam quindenam Sanctbe Triui- tatis, videlicet corpora pro corporibus, &c. Et ad praefatam quindenam Paschae, dictum fuit per justic. praefato Roberto de Dumbelton, mar., quod adduceret coram rege corpus praedicti magistri Johannis de Noting- ham, clerici, qui prius in custodia sua pro feloniis et maleficiis praedictis extitit comraissus, &c. Et praedictus marescallus dicit, quod praedictus magister Johannes die obiit in prisona in custodia sua, &.c. per
quod ipse praefatum magistrum Johannem coram rege hie, &c. Et profert inde (the record appears incomplete).
Postea ad praefatam quindenam Sanctae Trinitatis, scilicet anno regni domini regis nunc decimo octavo, venit praedictus Robertus le Mareschal, probator, per mar. ductus, &c. et praedicti Ricardus le Latoner, Galfridus Freberne, Robertus le Palmere, Adam de Wolreston, Hugo de Tuwe, Johannes de Siflete, Willelmus de Gloucestre, Johannes de Stenleye,
IXVU1 \])I\ TO TUB INTRODUCTION.
Ricardus le Taillour hosier, Johannes le Wallere servu-ns Aliciae la Hunte, Ilenricus Pake, Robertus de Stoue, Robertus de Eichefeld, Ro- bertus le Mercer qui desponsavit filiam Adae de Lyndeseye, Philippua le Hosier. Walterus Chubboc, Rogerus le Bray, Johannes Freberne, Regi- naldus de Alesleye, Willelmus le Wallere, Johannes filius Hugonis de Merington, Willelmus Russel, Ricardus de la Grene. et Johannes le Rede- clerk, per manucaptionem praedictam venerunt. Et similiter jural ores de visneto de lowe, videlicet Henricus de Lodbroke miles, Radulphus de Shirleye miles. Willelmus de Sutton. Alanus de Wodelowe, Alexander de Crulefeld, Walterus de Morcote. Willelmus Erneys, Johannes de Xafford, Johannes Comyn, Johannes de Hockele, Robertus de Shireford, tt Gal-
fridus de Whiteleye.
Respice in tergo de eodem.
Et super hoc venit praedictus Ricardus Grauntpe infra appellatus de male- ficiis et feloniis infrascriptis, et reddidit se prisonae marescalciae regis hie in cur., qui committitur mar., &c. et statim per mar. ductus venit ; et allocutus qualiter se velit de maleficiis et feloniis praedictis acquietare, de- fendit omnem feloniam et tot urn et quicquid est contra pacem regis, et quod in nullo est hide culpabilis ; de bono et malo ponit se super patriam per praedictos, &c. Juratores praedicti dicunt super sacramentum suum, quod praedicti Ricardus le Latoner, Galfridus Freberne, Robertus le Palmere, Adam de Wolreston, Hugo de Tue. Johannes de Sitlete, Willelmus de Glou- cestre, Johannes de Stonleye, Ricardus le Taillour hosier. Johannes le Wallere serviens Alicia? la Hunte, Henricus Pake, Robertus de Stoue, Robertus de Lichefeld, Robertus le Mercer qui desponsavit filiam Adae de Lyndeseye, Philippus le Hosier, Walterus Chubboc, Rogerus le Bray, Johannes Fre- berne, Reginaldus de Alesleye, Willelmus de Wallere, Johannes filius Hugonis de Merington, Willelmus Russel, Ricardus de la Grene, Johannes le Redeclerk, et Ricardus Grauntpee, in nullo sunt culpabiles de feloniis nee maleficiis sibi impositis, nee unquam ex occasione se subtraxerunt. Ideo ipsi eant hide quieti, &.c. Et praedictus Robertus le Marcschal, pro- bator [quibusdam certis de causis] remittitur prir-onae mar. in custodia Roberti de Dumbeltone [mar.] quousque cur. regis, super quibusdam arti- culis pnemissa contingentibus plenius avisetur, &c.
Et de praedicto Petro Baroun appellato infra de maleficiis praedictis, et habuit diem ad pra?fatam quindenam Sanctie Trinitatis anno xviij°. per
\ 1'i'iN di\ TO THE I NTROD1 ( I ION.
manucaptionem prsBdictam, qui modo non venit, juratorei testantur quod mortuua est. Edeo nihil fiat ulterius <!•• <•<>. &o.
El df predictis Henrico de Hynton e1 Ricardo Grauntpee, necnon I!i- eardo le Taillour hosier, ricecomes retournavit ad prasfataa octabas Sancti Hillarii, scilicet anno regni domiui regis nunc wiij"., quod Don sunt in-
vcnti in balliva sua., &C. Ideo Bicul prius pra'ccplmn esi \ icccomiti quod
eapiat eos si inventi, &c. [ta quod habeat corpora eorum coram rege a <li<- Paschaa in w. dies, ubicunque, &c.
EXTRACT RELATING TO SORCERY.
From MS. Reg. 13 A. VII. fol. 5. The MS. is so incorrectly written, and
in so bad a hand, that it was thought vain to attempt to restore it.
De Sortilegis.
Diximus de perjurio quo quis peccat in Deum ; consequenter de sortilegis et divinis, qui, quicquid Dei est proprium, videlicet futura praedicere, sibi falso et illicite ascribentes, innumeras animas trahunt ad inferos, est agen- dum. Yideamus igitur quid sit sors, quae species divinationis, quae divinatio prohibita, quae permissa, qua poena sint sortilegi puniendi seu divini. Sors est ars divinandi ; divinatio autem proprie in malo accipitur, prophetia vero in bono. Jeronimus super ilium locum Michae, Judices in mino- rihus judicabant, sacer dotes ejus inmerito respondebant, et prophetce ejus in pecunia divinabant, etc. ita ait, nunquam divinatio in bona parte accipitur : Videbant quidem sibi prophetae, sed quia pecuniam accipiebant, prophetia eorum facta est divinatio, i. e. divinatio eorum quae credebatur esse prophetia, declarata est non esse prophetia, i. q. i. judices.
Species divinationis sunt multae : alia quae fit per spiritum malignum, ut in Phitonissa, quae praedixit de morte Saulis : alia phiromantia, quae fit in igne, dicitur a pir, quod est ignis, et mantia, divinatio : alia aerimantia, quae fit in aere : alia ydromantia, quae fit in aqua, ab ydor, quod est aqua : alia geomantia, \_sic. there is apparently a lacune.] qua mortui re- suscitati videntur divinare et ad interrogata respondere, nigro enim Graece Latine mortuus, ad quos suscitandos cadaveri sanguis adjicitur, nam amare sanguinem daemones dicuntur, ideo quotienscumque fit nigromantia cruor aqua miscetur ut colore sanguinis facilius provocamur : alia auspicium, sive
XXX APPENDIX TO THE INTRODUCTION.
augnrium, qua& attenditur in gestu, volatu, et cantu avium, unde augurium quasi avigerium, vol avigerarium, i. e. avium gestus vel garritus. Item, fit divinatio stemutationibus, sompniis, et sortibus, quas falso dicunt apos- tolorum, et vana inspectione psalterii, evangeliorum, et aliarum scriptuarum. Item, sunt mathematici qui constellationes considerant, hii etiam magi dicuntur. Item, arioli, qui inania ydolorum responsa daemonum accipiunt. Item, auruspiees, quasi aurarum spectatores, qui dies et horas in agendis negotiis operibusque custodiunt. Hii etiam exta, sive intestina, vel interiora pecudum inspiciunt, et in eis futurum praedicunt. Item, incantatores, male- fici, et multi alii, quos enumerat Ag. xxij. q. iiij. igitur genus, et q. v. nee minim, et in c. episcopi.
Regulariter omnis divinatio, quocunque praedictorum modorum vel alio simili fiat, prohibita est et maledicta, adeo et a sancta ecclesia tamquam ydolatria et infidelitas. Cum enim futura, quae solius Dei sunt, per tales superstitiones invenire laborant, divinitatis jura creaturis attribuunt. Ysa. Priora et novissima annuntiare mihi, et dicam quod dii estis. Jere. Xolite audire prophetas vestros et divinos et sompniatores et augures et malejicos, qui dicunt vobis, non servietis regi Babilonis, quia menda- cium prophetant vobis, ut longefaciant vos de terra vestra et ejiciant vos et pereatis. Item, in Levitico, Non auguriabi)ni}ii, nee observabitis sompnia. Item, in eodem, Anima quce declinaverit ad magos et ariolos, et fornicata fuerit cum eis, ponain faciem meam contra earn, et interficiam earn de medio populi sui. Item, Non est augurium in Jacob, nee divinatio in Israel. Item, Apud quosdam talia servantes dies observatis, et menses, et tempora, et annos, timeo ne sine causa laboravimus vobis. Item, Dominus ait discipulis, Non est vestrum nosse tempora vel momenta, quce Pater ponit in sua pjotestate. Item, Ag. hoc vanitas magicarum artium ex traditione malorum angelorum in toto terrarum orbe plurimis seculis in- valuit, et per inventiones eorum inventa sunt aurispicia, auguriationes, et ipsa quae dicuntur oracula, et nigromantia. Item, Aug. Non observetis dies qui dicuntur ^Egyptiaci, aut kalendas Januarii, in quibus cantilenae quaedam et commensationes et ad invicem dona donantur, quasi in principio anni boni fati augurio, aut aliquot menses aut per tempora die sua et annos, aut lunae et mensis solisque cursum. Quia et qui has et quascunque divina- tiones aut fata aut auguria observat, aut attendit, aut contendit, aut con- sentiret observantibus aut talibus credit, aut ad eorum domum vadit, aut in
APPENDIX TO mi INTRODUCTION. xxxi
sua domo introducit ut interroget, trial we fidem christianam el baptimnaB prsBvaricasse, el paganum ei apoetatam, L <•. retro abeuntem, »-t Dd ininii- cum, iram Dei graviter in sternum incurrere, oiai ecclesiastic! poanitentia emendatus Deo reconcilietur. Die-it enim Ap., Sw§ manducatU% tws bibitUi $we aliquid facitis, in nomine donUni nottri Jhemt Chrittifacit*i
in quo t'irintu.w in<irrinu)\ ft sum us.
Quid plura ? lia'c omnia condempnat et abhorret aascta ft eatholica eocleaia, ut IXVL q. ii. et q. v. per totas, et q. vij. non licet, et in iiij. c. sequentibus extra e. per totuin. Srd contra haec suj)radieta objicitur, quod Josue pnacepto Domini sortibus exquaisivit peccatum Aebor, quod cora- iniserat, sunu ns furtive regulam auream, et dea coiti de anna traberate (?) Jericho. Item, Saul sorte deprehendit Jonathan filium suum comedisse favum mellis, contra edictum quod ipse posuerat. Item, Jonas, cum fugeret a facie Domini, sorte a nautis deprehensus est. Item, Mathias sorte in apostolatum Judae successorem electus est. Item, ait Ag., Sors non est aliquid mali, sed res in humana dubietate divinam judicans voluntatem. Ad exempla objecta, die quod ante evangelium, haBC et multa alia permitte- bantur, quae tempore perfectionis disciplinas penitus sunt eliminata, xxvi. q. ii. s. hiis ita. Item, sicut ait Jero. Privilegia singulorum contra legem facere non possunt. Ad illud Ag. dicans, quod sors non aliquid mali, verum est in sui natura, tamen prohibetur quia propter assiduitatem labitur quis in ydolatriam. Sed de jure, scilicet de juramento, et per s. ca. in- stitutionis, unde si esset causa honesta et subesset necessitatis, ut si esset rontentio de electione aliquorum, et esset paritas utrobique in omnibus, credo quod exemplo Mathiae possent fieri sortes, et hoc ait Beda dicens : Si qui necessitate aliqua compulsi Deum putant sortibus apostolorum esse consulendum, viderant hoc ipsos apostolos non nisi collecto fratrum ccetu et precibus ad Deum fusis egisse, xxvi. q. ii. non ex0. Item, cum quaedam civitas esset obsessa, et dubitaret clerus qui deberent fugere, qui manere, consultus Ag. respondit sorte illud esse dirimendum. Item, nee con- dempnantur hie rustici, qui servant tempora ad seminandas vel arbores in- cidendas vel similia, quae certam et naturalem habent rationem quare ita debeant fieri. Item, de phisicis circa medicinas dandas et minutiones faciendas et similia, de quibus certa et manifesta ratio reddi potest, secun- dum phisicam : probatur hoc, xxvi. q. ii. illud vero. Ad hoc genus scilicet superstitionis pertinent omnes ligaturae, atque remedia quae medicorum
XXX11 APPENDIX TO THE INTRODUCTION.
quoque disciplina condempnat, et e. c. q. vij. non obscrvetis. Qui taliter observant inutilitcr et sine causa, et cetera. Item, si aliquis vol aliqua colligit herbam medicinalem cum svmbolo divino, vel oratione dominica, ut ponat super aliquem infirmum, ut sic in istis tamen Deus creator om- nium et dominus honoretur, non reprobatur divinatio nisi alia super- stitiosa obscrvantia misccatur, xxvi. q. vij. non obscrvetis. Poena talium est multiples. Sunt enim infames, nee debent recipi ad eucharisticam, si notorium est peccatum, sicut nee instriones. d. c. di. ii. pro dilectione. Item, non debent admitti ad accusationem ; ii. q. viij. quisquis. Item, debent excommunicari ; xxiij. q. v. fere per totum. Item, si post admonitionem vel excommunicationem noluerint se corrigere, si servi sunt debent verberibus castigari, si liberi includi in carcerem, vel utrique sunt de parochia tur- piter debonestati, i. e. tonsorati vel decalvati, ejiciendi : et hoc potest episco- pus sua auctoritate facere, dum tamen caveat a membri detruncatione, morte, et sanguinis effusione ; vel si necesse sit invocet brachium seculare, xxvi. q. v., non licuit. Secundum leges, capite puniuntur, c. de malis et ma. sub. nemo.
Quid de sacerdotibus et religiosis, quibus vasa vel ornamenta ecclesiae vel similia furtim subtracta sunt ; vol etiam de laicis quibus res propriae furto sublata sunt ; numquid poterunt per inspectionem astralabii vel similia investigare ? Ad hoc dicas secundum omnes, quod si fit ibi invocatio daemonum vel aliud superstitiosum, nullo modo licet, immo gravissime peccat quicunque facit, extra e. extrarum. Ubi quidam, licet juvenili simplicitate et bono zelo fecissct, fuit tamen suspensus ab officio et beneficio. Si autem talis inspectio fieret simpliciter per astronomiam, non invocatis daemonibus nee alio superstitioso adjumento forte posset amicti xtD. a contrario assensu praeallegatae dec. et di. xxxvij. si quis gramaticam, et ita dicunt quidam : tamen in eodem dec. dicitur, quod licet quadruviales artes in se contineant mertatae, (?) tamen quia non sunt pietatis, non est in eis studendum. Item, quid de sacerdotibus qui causa doloris permoti, ut altare vestibus sacris exuunt, aut qualibet alia lugubri veste operiunt, aut consueta luminaria subtrahunt, aut altare vel crucifixum spinis circumdant.
Quid etiam de illis qui pronius scienter cantant missam defunctorum, vel sub nomine illorum quos odiunt feretrum cum exequiis mortuorum in medio ecclesiae ponunt, vel alia similia faciunt, ut illi citius moriantur ? Ad hoc dico, quod si aliquid praedictorum fiat propter odium privatum, gravissime
\ I'i'i \ Di \ i o tin: [NTROD1 CTION. Kill
peccal qui tacit, et nisi per Legitimam poBnitentiam m purgayerit, debet deponi. Si autem propter causam couununem puta»quia metuil contamina* tionem Bacrorum ordinom vol Bnbyersionem fidei, rel bottilitateiD Buflert,yel obaidionexD vel divinorum judicioroni sententiain niotuit, el ideo talc quod
facit, non dicitur peccaro, quia in tali facto plus lnnnililas < j 1 1 ; i DeUB pla- catnr, (jiiain niatcriani livoris dolositas declaratur. Hoc ctiain tenet coii-
Buetudo eccleauB) unde solet cantare, omnes yenerunl gentes, et in Bignum
tristitia1 indie Veneris saneti altaria spoliaro. Hoc tanien di-tinctio t'allit in illis, (jiii prouifl scienter celebrant officimn mortnonnn. Nam tales, si
fuerinl detecti, indistincte debent deponi, et agendam poanitentiam, tarn ipse
sacerdos, quam (jni einn ad hoc incitavit, debent exilii perpetui erirastnlo, seu nionasterio religari : hoc totum habes expresse in c. Tolletano, xxvi. q. i., quicunque.
Quid de quibusdam sceleratis mnlieribus, qua? credunt se et profitentnr cum Diana dea paganorum nocturnis horis, vel cirm Herodiade et innumera multitudine mulierum, equitare super quasdam bestias, et multa terrarum spatia intempestae noctis silentio pertransire, ejusque jussionibus obedire velut dominaB, certis noctibus ad ejus servitium evocari, asserunt etiam ab illis aliquas creaturas posse in melius vel in deterius commutari, aut in aliam speciem vel similitudinem transformari ? De hiis dico, c. Acquiren. quod non a divino spiritu sed maligno talia fantasmata mentibus fidelium irrogantur. Diabolus enim, cum anima alicujus per talem credulitatem sub- jugaverit sibi, transfigurat se in angelum lucis et transformat se in diver- sarum personarum species atque similitudines, mentem quasi captivam tenet, multipliciter deludit, nee debet aliquis vel aliqua in tantam venire stul- titiam ut credat haec omnia, quae in sompniis et spiritu tantum fuerit, etiam, in corpore accidere, cum etiam Paulus non audeat asserere quod fuerit raptus in corpore. Quicumque ergo talia crediderit vel asseruerit, proculdubio infidelis est et pagano deterior, xxvj. q. v. episcopi. Item, cum dictum sit supra fidem non esse habendam in auguriis, sortibus, et caeteris speciebus divinationis, quoniam frequenter evenerint ea quae praedicunt, quoniam etiam tales homines saepe liberant aegros, et mittunt aegritudines, Aug. movet hanc quaestionem et solvit, dicens, Hoc fieri permissu Dei, ut illi qui audiunt et vident probentur in quali fide sunt erga Deum. Hoc probat auctoritate Deutoronomii, Si surrexerit in medio tui propheta aut qui sompnum dicat se vidisse, et praedixerit signum atque portentum, et venerit quod locutus
(AMD. soc. f
XXXIV APPENDIX TO THE INTRODUCTION".
est, ct dixerit tibi, eamus et sequamur deos alienos quos ignoras et scrviamus eis, non audies verba prophetae, aut sompniatoris, quia tentat vos Deus noster, ut palam fiat, scilicet ipsis qui temptantur et aliis hominibus, non autem Deo, quia ipse scit omnia antequam fiant, utrum diligatis eum an non, xxvj. q. v. nee mirum circa.
EXTRACTS FROM GUIL. ALVERNI EP. PARIS. DE UNIVERSO (13th Cent.)
P. 1065, et seq. relating to Popular Superstitions.
In JEgypto vero propter idolatriam, qua? maxime ibi fervere consuevit, atque malignorum spirituum longe majorem quam in aliis partibus fre- quentiam, ludificationum fantasiae maxime abundant nunc, licet nulla pars hominum habitations ludificationibus hujusmodi caruerit, donee, ut praedixi, lex et fides Christianorum viguit et floruit. De ludificationibus autem quarum famositas partes occidentals replevit, et potissimum minorem Britanniam, non aliud tibi sentiendum puto, vel video, nisi quod per ante- dictum modum fiunt. Una vero ex his est, qua interdum videtur sibi ali- quis esse in palatio magnifico atque pulchro, et videre sibi mulierem speciosissimam in apparatu regio et ornatu, esseque in epulis splendidissimis cum ipsa, et postmodum in lecto in venereis delitiis tota nocte cum ipsa ; hujusmodi autem subito evanescentibus, deprehendit se fuisse in luto sor- didissimo tota nocte, et inter ossa crurium vaccae unius, equuro quoque suum alligatum ad arborem tota ilia nocte non comedisse. Et memini me videre potuisse virum cui illusio ista acciderat ; non autem vidi propter negligen- tiam meam atque desidiam. Similia etiam contigisse saepius est visum, et famositate non dubia notissimum, et in ore hominum regionis illius pene assiduis narrationibus creberrimum. Facile autem malignis spiritibus homines de quibus hoc permittitur soporare. eisque somniantibus delecta- mentis tota una nocte vel magna parte illius noctis illudere, eisque sopo- ratis equos eorum arboribus alligare, corpora eorum, ubi voluerint, collo- care, cum nihil horum sentiant soporari.
APPENDIX TO tin: INTRODUCTION* xxxv
Post bee consequenter de substantia apparentibus in similitudine equi- tantium, et bellatorum in prolium currentium, <t in limilitudinem exer- citiiuin innumerabilium, interdum autem et in limilitudine paucorum equitum.
Sunt et alia' luditicationes malignorum spirituum, quas f'aciunl interdum
in nemoribus, et locis amosnis, et frondosis arboribus, ubi apparent in simi« litudine puellanun ant matronarum, ornatu muliebri et candido, interdum etiam in Btabulis cum Luminaribua cereis, ex quibus apparent distillationes
in coinis et collis equoruni, et comae ipsorum diligenter tricatae ; et andiefl cos qui talia Be vidisse fatentur, dicentes veram ceram esse qua; dc lumi- naribus hujusmodi stillaverat. Manifestum autem est tibi, quia facile est malignis spiritibus ceram veram ex melle agresti et ex operibus apum silvestrium colligere, et inde luminare facere. A parte vero hominum non- dum audivimus eis hujusmodi rapinam exercuisse : nee tamen dubitandum est, quin ex permissione creatoris interdum ha?c facere possint : quod autem non faciunt vel haBc vel alia mala hominibus, ex bonitate creatoris est, qui tenet eos ligatos instar immanissimarum belluarum ut non noceant homi- nibus quantumcumque velint. De illis vero substantiis, qua? apparent in domibus, quas dominas nocturnas, et principem earum vocant dominum Abundiam, pro eo quod domibus, quas frequentant, abundantiam bonorum temporalium praestare putantur, non aliud tibi sentiendum est, neque alitor, quam quemadmodum de illis audivisti : quod enim comedere et bibere videntur, visio illusoria tantum est, cum manifestum sit substantias spi- rituals cibis aut potibus corporalibus uti non posse. Deinde nihil con- sumptions aut diminutionis apparet in cibis et potibus corporalibus, de quibus sumpsisse videntur, post recessum eorum vel potius postquam eva- nuerint. Quapropter eousque invaluit stultitia hominum, et insania vetu- larum, ut vasa vini et receptacula ciborum discooperta relinquant, et omnino nee obstruant neque claudant eis noctibus quibus ad domos suas eas credunt adventuras, ea de causa videlicet, ut cibos et potus quasi paratos inveniant, et eos absque difficultate apparitionis pro beneplacito sumant. Ubi manifestum est, scelus idolatriae committi, cum cibi et potus malignis spiritibus sint expositi ea intentione, qua ad locum venturi et inde sumpturi creduntur.
WXV1 APPENDIX TO THE INTRODUCTION.
Idem et eodem modo sentiendum est tibi de aliis malignis spiritibus, quas vulgus stryges et lamias vocant, et apparent de nocte in domibus in quibus parvnli nntriuntur, eosque de cunabulis raptos laniare vel igne assare videntur ; apparent autem in specie vetularum, videlicet, quae nee vere vetulae sunt, nee vere pueros devorare possibile est eis, propter causam quam dixi. Interdum autem permittitur eis parvulos occidere in pcenam parentum propter hoc, quia parentes eousque interdum diligunt parvulos suos, ut Deum non diligant : utiliter igitur atque salubriter cum ipsis parentibus agitur, cum causa offensae creatoris subtrahitur. Insipientes autem more suo, unde erudiri deberent, inde occasionem detestabilioris stultitiae assumunt ; qua de causa factum est, ut spiritus maligni sub nomine et specie vetularum, in quibus apparere credebantur, timorem et honorem ac culturam idolatriae sibi acquisiverint, ea videlicet de causa, ut parvulis parcerent, hoc est, ut illos nee laniarent neque igni assarent. Vetularum autem nostrarum desi- pientia opinionem istam mirabiliter disseminavit et provexit, atque animis mulierum aliarum pene irradicabiliter infixit. Similiter et de dominabus nocturnis quod bonce domince sint, et magna bona domibus quas fre- quentant per ea praestantur, mulieribus potissimum persuaserunt, et ut ad unum dicam, pene omnes reliquias idolatriae retinuit et reservavit et adhuc promovere non cessat anilis ista fatuitas.
"tfc ^p v^F TT» ^t ^f 7r ^>
Jam igitur per ista scire debes, quia ex operatione malignorum spirituum, et ex aliis causis quas audivisti, proveniunt illusiones istae hastiludiorum, et aliarum apparitionum, quas tibi nominavi. Propter quid autem in compitis magis quam in agris, vel in aliis locis ? Dico quod in aliis locis etiam fiunt, cum videantur exercitus ibi nocturni multitudine sua operire montes et valles : compita vero propter frequentiam hominum minus habent munditiae et spiritualis et corporalis. Agri namque mundissimi, ut ita dicatur, com- paratione viarum publicarum et compitorum. In his enim, hoc est in viis publicis et compitis, de nocte conveniunt latrones et raptores, omniaque genera maleficorum. Narratur quoque, quod quidam videns hujusmodi exercitum terrore percussus a via publica declinavit in agrum contiguum, ubi quasi in refugio, transeunte juxta ilium toto illo exercitu, illaesus per- mansit, et nihil mali passus est ab illis, propter quod inolevit opinio apud multos, agros gaudere protectione creatoris propter utilitatem hominum, et hac de causa non esse accessum malignis spiritibus ad cos, neque potoft-
kPPENDIX i" mi [NTR0DU4 ii<>\. xxxvn
tatem uocendi propter banc cauaam bominibua exiatentibui in eU< Gent autcin idolatrarum tutelam titam ct defenuonem, li earn \<-l crederel vel audiret, ouminibus aryorum illam attribueret. El n quia de gente ilia in agrofl metu bujusmodi declinaret, qod ad agrum eum fugere, sed a<l protec- tioncin el presidium prsBdictorum auminum ilium fugere judicaretur. Opiaor autem, quod Cererem deam, qme agris prasest, bujusmodi bominem protexisae crederent, elercitumque ilium intra Bnea regnumque Cererii nemim* posse nocere. De 1h><- autem, quod in Bimilitudine bominum appa- rentj hominum dico mortuorum, ct maxime gladio interfectorum, videatur forsitan alicui juxta Bententiam Ratonia, quod agere nderentur numeros dierum vel temporum debitorum animaa mortuorum hnjusmodi, temporum dico quibus in corporibus victuraa erant, nisi eis mortis hujusmodi nolentia expulisset.
********
Quod autem nefandae illae dominae nocturnae, quibus praeesse crcdunt vetulae dominam Abundiam, vel dominam Satiam, ab eo quod est satis, vel a satietate dictam, similiter et illae quae in stabulis et arboribus frondosis apparere dicuntur, sint maligni spiritus, per haec, quae dicam tibi, patefiet. Et primum quidem, quia boni ac beati spiritus cibos vel potus sibi prae- parari, vel exponi, sive apponi, nunquam expetunt, utpote qui talibus non
indigent.
********
De nocturno vero daemone, quern JEphialtem multi vocant, scire oportet, quia multi ex peritioribus medicorum Ephialtem daemonem esse negant, et oppressionem illam, quam eos incumbens daemon facere videtur, hominibus ex compressione cordis esse dicunt, qua nervus, per quern sensibilis et motivus spiritus a corde ad membra alia digreditur, et permeat, atque diffunditur, ibi stringitur, ut spiritus illos retineat, et ad membra transire prohibeat.
Postquam autem jam produxi tractatum istum eousque, ut jam conve- nientissimum sit perscrutari de malignis spiritibus, qui usualiter incubi vel succubi nominantur, incipiam hie cum auxilio Dei, et dicam, quia esse eorum, et concupiscentiam eorum libidinosam, necnon et generationem ab eis, esse famosam atque credibilem fecerunt testimonia virorum et mulierum, qui illusiones ipsorum, molestiasque, et improbitates, necnon et violentias libi-
XWV111 APPENDIX TO THE INTRODUCTION.
dinis ipsorum, se passos fuisse testificati sunt, et adhuc asserunt. Accedunt et ad hoc historicae narrationes, per quas augetur non mediocriter hujus- modi credulitas ; praesertim cum gentem Hunnorum ab hujusmodi daemo- nibus esse generatam evidenter asserat historia regnorum occidentaliiun. Sed et insulam Cypri totam populatam esse et inhabitatam esse a filiis incuborum daemonum fama prgedicat.
Dicat aliquis forsitan, quod mulieres illae, sicut narratur in praefatis his- toricis, mulieres maleficae fuerunt, et propter maleficia magica subtractae de medio habitationis hominum, quam ob causam fugientes ad deserta et nemora, inibi habitaverunt, atque daemonibus, quibus familiares fuerant, familiarius et facilius adhaeserunt ; ex qua famiharitate subsecuta est con- suetudo libidinosa, et eommixtiones, ex quibus processit generatio tota gentis illius : mortuis autem mulieribus hujusmodi non successerunt eis filiae mulieres, ad quas tarn facilem tamque familiarem accessum haberent hujus- modi spiritus.
Nee te removeat aut conturbet ullatenus vulgaris ilia Hispanorum nomi- natio, qua malignos spiritus, qui in armis ludere ac pugnare videri con- sueverunt, e.rercitum antiquum nominant ; magis enim anilis et delirantium vetulanim nominatio est, quam veritatis. De his quoque, qui in specie mulierum vel crinitarum, vel in aliis apparatibus. circa fontes vel flumina apparere dicuntur, non aliud, neque aliter, quam juxta ea quae praecesserunt, video sentiendum.
EXTRACTS FROM THE FORTALITIUM FIDEL
(Written by Alfonsus de Spina, in the year 1458, ed. 1494, fol.281, v° et seq.)
Alii sunt masculi et feminae, aliqui sunt mundi et aliqui immundi, alii illudunt viros et feminas, qui xurguine sive bruxe vulgariter nuncupantur. Multi asserunt se talia vidisse, et quasi tenent quasi certa, sed quid veritatis contineat consequenter declarabitur.
De fato. — Prima differentia daemonum est de fatis. Voluerunt quidam
\ PPENDIX i 0 nil i N I R0D1 ( i ION.
umplices dicere quod fata rani qusBdam femine, qnaa <lant Bpiritm raper ereaturam ooviter oatam«
Secunda differentia daemonum <i>t illornm qui dicnutur tU cata* Expe- riuntur 889pe homines de oocte in domibua raia vigilantea in lectii rais, quod
ainbnlat aliqnis per doniimi inutando, frangendo res ■1l<|imft| ICtOfl magnOf
dandoj apecialiter in vasis vinariia ammo?endo, etiam a capitibua hominum birreta sua, et tollendo omnea rupaa quaa in lectia super ie habenl : in quorum aliquibus ego rxpertus sum. Cum enim juvenia easem et jacerem in quadam domo quadrata, cujus solum nnica era! jiort.-iab intus bene clanaa, cum aliis tribus sociis in eodem lccto, ecce subito intcmpcstae noetic silentio audivimus extra portam quasi sonum quern apothccarii faciunl in mortariolis aereis in fracturam specierum ; evigilantes ergo et mirantes quid hoc esse posset tali hora, cessavit modicum sonus ille, et post paululum sen- sibiliter audivimus intra domum sub mensa quadam quae ibi erat, sub qua mensa erat cophinus quidem quasi plenus novis nucibus, et tantus ibidem sentiebatur a nobis sonitus nucum confractarum ac si ibidem plurimi porci grofolantes nucesque confrangentes ambularent, de quo non modicum stupe- fact i eramus, cum janua optime ab intus esset clausa et nullus alius esset ingressus. Post paululum vero cessante sonitu illo, in angulo praedictae quadrae nobis opposito subito apparuit quidam parvus splendor, et nunquam amplius vidimus nee aliquid sensimus. Quidam autem ex sociis, qui majoris aetatis erat et vir satis peritus, dixit nobis quod non timeremus, quia erat quidam spiritus malus nobilis aerarchiae, qui alia mala non operabatur nisi ludos illos, sed die facto nuces sicut dimisimus invenimus. Faciunt etiam luctum cum hominibus, et plura alia aliquibus pavorosa ; et secundum veri- tatem tales non sunt homines nee mulieres, sed sunt quidam da?mones qui volunt deridere homines, volentes imitari angelum qui luctatus est cum Jacob, et angelum qui locutus est cum Moyse, et angelum quern vidit Josue in campo Hiericho, et licet multa damna de nocte in domibus videantur egisse, nihil tamen damni de die reperitur, nee res aliqua mutata de loco suo, sed quaelibet in suo ordine sicut primo erat. Est ergo illusio quaedam talium daemonum derisorium, quae ad nihil aliud extendi potest nisi ad talem hominum derisionem.
Tertia differentia est quorundam daemonum qui inrubi et sitecubi nuncu-
xl APPENDIX TO THE INTRODUCTION.
pantur, qui homines generare dicuntur. Tales enim daemones in specie hominum virorum aliquo modo aliquando ineumbunt feminis, et aliquando in specie feminarum succumbunt viris.
Quarta differentia est aliquorum daemonum qui vigilantibus per vias apparent, quasi exercitus magni, qui cum magnis tumultibus incedere viden- tur, et vulgo dicitur huesta antigua. Aliquando etiam videntur facere praelia magna.
tf ^ ^ tF tF ^ tF W
Quinta differentia est aliquorum daemonum qui inter homines se apparent comedentes et bibentes, quasi sociantes se eis. Tales volunt deridere homines, et volunt imitari angelos qui cum Abraam comenderunt et per viam fuerunt, et Raphaelem angelum qui socius fuit Thobiae junioris, qui cum eo comedere et bibere videbatur, et Christum qui sociatus est per viam Lucam et Cleopham, et ad mensam cum eis fuit. Unde legitur in vita beati Germani, quod cum praedictus sanctus quadam nocte hospitatus fuisset in una domo, et post coenam mensa sterni pararetur, admiratus quaesivit ab hospitibus cui denuo mensa pararetur, qui cum dicerent quod bonis illis viris et mulieribus quae nocte incedunt praepararent, nocte ilia statuit sanctus Germanus vigilare, et ecce vidit multitudinem daemonum ad mensam in formis virorum et mulierum venientem, qui eis praecipiens ne abirent, cunctos de familia excitavit, et quaesivit si personas illas cognoscerent, qui cum omnes vicinos et vicinas dicerent esse, misit ad domos singulorum, et ecce in suis lectulis sunt inventi. Adjurati ergo per sanctum Germanum,
daemones se esse dixerunt, qui sic homines illudebant.
######*■*
Octava differentia daemonum est eorum qui in specie virorum et femi- narum apparent, qui secundum veritatem nee sunt masculi nee feminae. Verumtamen aliquibus eorum placet plus societas virorum et aliis mulierum.
T^ TT" <T^ TT^ TT> W" *F ^F
Decima differentia daemonum est eorum qui decipiunt mulieres aliquas vetulas maledictas, quae xurguine sive hruxe nuncupantur. Sciendum ergo est quod sunt quaedam malae gentes, viri et mulieres, apostatae in fide et haereticae creaturae et falsae, qui seipsos dant voluntarie diabolo, et diabolus recipit eos, et dat eis quod per suas artes falsas eis appareat quod ambulant ducentas leucas, et quod redcunt in spacium quatuor vel quinque horarum,
\ I'd \ 1)1 \ TO III I I M ROD! ( I IMS. \||
ti quod destruunl creaturas suggenles Banguinem eorum, <t quod faciunf alii maleficia tpia* volunl Becundum diaboli voluntatem, quod esl eii el illii qui eis credunl magna deceptio el illusio diaboli. Veritas autem hujua facti est, quod quando iatae mala personaa volunl ■ 1 1 i hia peaaimia fictionib eonaecrant bo cum verbis el unctionibua diabolo, et Btatim diabolua recipit eos in opere buo, el accipil figuram earum el fantaaiam cujualibet earum, ducitque illas per ilia loca per quae deaiderabant, corpora vero earum rema- nent sine aliqua Benaibilitate, el cooperil ilia diabolua umbra sua, ita quod nullua ilia videre poaait. El cum diabolua videl in fantaaiia earum, quod im- pleveranl que \ olebant, non ammovendo ab earum imaginationibua diabolicaa fantasias caruni quaa viderunt, reducit illas imaginationea, conjungena cum suis propriia motibua el corporibua, et tollil umbram Buam deauper corporibua earum, et Btatim videre possunt ; existentia tamen illorum nunquam ah illo loco absens fuit, scd solum actio cum idola ct fantasia fuerunt illis rebus quae diabolua eis praesentavit ct quae fecit pro quolibet eorum. Et quod hoc facil diabolus nou est mirum, quia ilia operatur ut derideat miseras animas, volcns imitari ea quae Deus verissime per angelos bonos fecit, sicut quando deducif Abacuc prophetam per pupillum de Judea in Babilonem realiter, cum sua propria existentia et actione. Sed quod diabolus habeat potestatem mutandi existentiam alicujus creaturae, nee facere quod transeat unum corpus per aliud sine damno uniua vel amborum, vel quod transeat majus corpus per spatium improportionatum loco, ut videlicet quod ingrediantur tales personae per parva foramina domorum, vel quod sit simul unum corpus in diversis locis, vel diversa in uno, et similia, haec daemones facere non pos- sunt, cum haec repugnant naturali philosophiae, et solum per miracula aliqu;i talia a Deo sunt possibilia fieri, ut dictum fuit supra consideratione v. hujus libri, cum de potestate daemonum ageretur. Illud tamen quod dia- bolus potuit facere est, quod unum pro altero videatur, et quod illud quod natura potuit facere in uno mense ipse potuit facere in puncto. Et causa est quia scit applicare activa passivis, sicut patet in his quae fecerunt magi Pharaonis. Quod tamen diabolus faciat quod unus homo convertatur in serpentem, vel avem, vel plantam, hoc est sibi impossibile ; et ideo in hoc multi perversi christiani alchemistae sunt decepti, habentes pacta cum daemo- nibus, cogitantes quod per eorum artem ferrum convertent in aurum. Quod autem una res sit et videatur altera, hoc bene potest diabolus facere, Deo permittente. Sic enim saepe facit diabolus, ut plurimos decipiat Sic enim
CAMD. SOC. g
xlii PENDIX TO THE INTRODUCTIOK.
legitur in historia Sancti dementia et Sancti Cipriani et Sancti Germanic
et aliorum multorum, quia accipiobat figuras aliquorum vironim et mulienim ad decipiendum populum et ad difFamandum creaturas Dei. Et ideo non est credendum quod homines vel mulieres convertantur in anseres, vel aliis similibus. Ea ergo qua? sceleratae mulieres credunt et profitentur, scilicet se cum Diana dea paganorum nocturnis horis, et cum Herodiade et nimia mulierum multitudine, equitare supra quasdam bestias, et multa terrarum spatia intempestae noctis silentio pertransire, ejusque jussionibus obedire velnt domino, et cunctis noctibus ad ejus servitium evocari, et quod ab illis possunt aliquae creaturae in melius vel in detenus commutari, aut in speciem vel similitudinem aliam transformari : omnia sunt falsa et erronea, et non a divino spiritu sed a maligno, ut dictum est, talia fantasmata mentibus earum irrogantur ; quia cum alicujus animam per talem credulitatem subju- gaverit sibi, transfigurans se in angelum lucis, et transformans se in diver- sarum personarum species atque similitudines, mentem quam captivam tenet multipliciter deludit, et nullus debet venire in tantam stultitiam ut credat haec omnia qua? in somniis et spiritu tantum fiunt etiam in corpore accidere, cum etiam Paulus non audeat asserere quod fuerat raptus in corpore. Quae- cunque ergo talia crediderit, scilicet postquam super talibus audierit veri- tatem vel asseruerit scilicet pertinaciter, proculdubio infidelis est et pagano deterior, xxvj. q. v. episcopi. Et quia nimium abundant tales perversae mulieres in Delphinatu et in Vaschonia, ubi se asserunt concurrere de nocte in quadam planicie deserta, ubi est aper quidam in rupe qui vulgariter dicitur Elboch de biterne, et quod ibi conveniunt cum candelis accensis et adorant ilium aprum, osculantes eum in ano suo, ideo captae plures earum ab inquisitoribus fidei et convictae, ignibus comburuntur. Signa autem com- bustarum sunt depicta, qualiter scilicet adorant cum candelis praedictum aprum, in domo inquisitoris Tholosani, in magna multitudine camisearum, sicut ego propriis oculis aspexi.
NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS
AGAINST
DAME ALICE KYTELER,
FOR SORCERY.
NARRATIVE OF THE PROCEEDINGS
AGAINST
DAME ALICE KY TELE II
FOR SORCERY.
A.D. 1324.
Tempore hujus papae [Johannis 22] contigerunt in Hybernia quae sequuntur. Visitante venerabili patre fratre Ricardo episcopo Ossoriensi suam diocesim, invenit per inquisitionem solennem, in qua erant quinque milites et alii nobiles in magna multitudine, quod in civitate Kilkenniae erant a magnis temporibus et adhuc sunt haeretici sortilegae quamplures, diversis utentes sortilegiis, qua3 sapiebant diversas haereses, ad quorum investigationem procedens episcopus prout ex officii [debijto tenebatur, invenit quandam dominam divitem, quae vocatur domina Alicia Kyteler, matrem Willelmi Outlawe, cum suis multis sodalibus, haeresibus variis irretitam. Primo scilicet, quod ad obtinendum intenta per sua nefaria sortilegia, fidem Christi et ecclesiae abnegabant ex toto per mensem vel per annum, secundum quod obtinendum per sortile- gium erat majus vel minus, ita quod durante illo tempore in nullo crederent quod ecclesia credit, nee corpus Christi adorarent ullo modo, nee ecclesiam intrarent, nee missam audirent, nee panem sumerent benedictum nee aquam benedictam. Secundo, quod sacrificia dabant daemonibus in animalibus vivis, quae dividebant membratim et ofFerebant distribuendo in quadruviis cuidam dae-
CAMD. SOC. B
2 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
moni qui se facit appellari Artis Filium ex pauperioribus inferni. Tertio, quod consilia et responsa per sua sortilegia petebant a daemonibus. Quarto, quod jurisdictionem et claves ecclesiae usurpabant in suis conventiculis de nocte, cum candelis de cera accensis, sententiam excommunicationis fulminando, etiam in viros proprios, a planta pedis usque ad verticem capitis per omnia membra expressa nominatim et singillatim, et in fine cum extinctione candelarum dicendo " fi : fi : fi : amen/' Quinto, quod de intestinis et interioribus gallorum deemonibus, ut prae- mittitur, immolatorum, cum quibusdam vermibus horribilibus, herbis variis, ac etiam unguibus mortuorum, crinibus posteriorum crebro et pannis puerorum decedentium sine baptismo, ac etiam aliis detestabilibus quamplurimis, in testa capitis latronis cujusdam decollati super ignem de lignis quercuum bullitis, varios foverunt pulveres, unguenta, et pixides, ac etiam candelas de pinguedine in dicta testa bullita cum suis variis incantationibus, ad concitandum amores et odia, ad interficiendum ac etiam ad affligendum corpora fidelium christianorum, et alia innumera optinenda. Sexto, quod filii et filise quatuor maritorum dictae dominee publicis instabant clamoribus apud episcopum, remedium et auxilium postulantes contra earn, publice coram populo allegantes quod ipsa per hujus- modi sortilegia patres eorum quosdam interfecerat, quosdam in- fatuaverat et ad tantam sensus stoliditatem duxerat quod omnia bona sua sibi et filio suo dederant, ad perpetuam filiorum suorum et haeredum depauperationem, unde et vir ejus qui nunc est, miles dominus Johannes le Power, per hujusmodi pulveres et pixides ac etiam sortilegia in tali statu positus est, quod totus est ex- tenuatus, ungulis privatus, et toto corpore depilatus, sed per ancillam quandam ejusdem dominee prsemunitus, ablatis violenter clavibus cistarum dictee dominee de manibus ejusdem et cistis apertis, invenit dictus miles unum saccum plenum de hujusmodi horribilibus et detestabilibus in eisdem, quem cum inventis per manus duorum religiosorum sacerdotum episcopo transmisit su- pradicto. Septimo, quod dicta domina deemonem quendam
rOB BOBOBRT. .)
habuit incubum, a quo cognosci camalifer B6 permit t if, qui Pilium Artis 86 tacit appellari, et ali(|uaii(lo Itohinum filiiini Anis; qui etiam quaiuloque sibi apparet in specie cati, quandoque in specie canis nigri et pilosi, quandoque in specie cujusdam eethiopis cum duobus sociis ipso majoribus ct longioribus, quorum quilibet virgam ferream portat in manibus ; cui etiam se et omnia sua committit; a quo etiam omnes snas divitias et ea quae possidet recepisse se recognoscit.
Quibus omnibus inventis per illos qui in crimine sunt com- })artieipes et alios, scripsit episcopus domini regis cancellario in Hybernia, ut moris est, pro captione dictarum personarum pesti- ferarum. Quod perpendens filius ejus, dives nimis et praepotens? "Willelmus Owtlawe, regalibus se contulit et aliis terrac nobilibus, amicos sibi faciens de mammona iniquitatis. Inter quos cancel- larius regis consanguineus dicti Willelmi, scilicet frater Rogerus Owtlawe, de ordine hospitalariorum sancti Johannis, et dominus Arnaldus le Pouwer, senescallus Kilkenniee, episcopo scripserunt litteras deprecatorias multum speciales ad supersedendum in causa vel etiam dissimulandum. Quibus cum responderet episcopus quod in causa tam ardua sicut est causa fidei hoc nullo modo esset faciendum, respondit cancellarius quod breve captionis non ob- tineret pro eisdem, donee facto publico processu excommunicati essent per quadraginta dies. Cui episcopus, " Alia/' inquit, " via tractandi sunt haeretici quam aliunde excommunicati : nam si perpendere possint haeretici processus ecclesiae contra ipsos, fugient ad partes alias sine mora, et hoc in magnum scandalum et fidei periculum poterit redundare." Sed, hiis non obstantibus, breve regium pro captione eorundem a cancellario non potuit obtinere. Citavit igitur episcopus dictam dominam Aliciam in domo filii sui Willelmi praedicti, ubi tunc degebat, per duos apparitores cum sacerdotum solenni comitiva. Quae licet citatione esset praeventa, fugit tamen statim jurisdictionem ecclesiae in causa fidei con- tempnendo. Verumptamen die illo quo dicta domina comparere debebat, praefatus cancellarius, frater Rogerus Outlawe, misit
4 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
quamplures advocatos clericos suos, qui et publice defensarunt eandem et allegarunt quod in crimine tam detestabili sicut est crimen haeresis non tenebatur ipsa personaliter, sed sufficiebat per procuratorem comparere. Episcopus igitur convocatis decano et capitulo ac etiam majoribus totius cleri sui, de consilio eorundem processus continuavit contra earn in forma juris. Qua tandem, juris ordine in omnibus observato, solenniter excommunicata per quadraginta dies et amplius, citavit episcopus filium ejusdem, scilicet Willelum Outlawe, super crimine haeresis, credulitate, favore haereticorum et receptatione et defensione irretitum. Quod au- diens dominus Arnaldus le Pouwer, baro, senescallus libertatis Kilkenniae, venit cum domino Willelmo ad prioratum de Kenles, ubi episcopus memoratus super hiis et aliis tunc temporis suam continuabat visitationem. Cui etiam affectuosissime supplicavit ad dissimulandum vel supersedendum in causa memorata, ser- monem protrahens fere usque ad mediam noctem, multa ofFerens et ampliora promittens. Sed cum episcopus eidem finaliter diceret quod in causa fidei non audebat nee volebat dissimulare, dictus Arnaldus post multa convitia et obprobria episcopo illata minas tandem gravissimas eidem intentavit ; et in crastino summo mane, scilicet die Martis, post celebrationem divinorum egrediente epis- copo prioratum ad continuandam suam visitationem in partibus de Clomore, in fine villae de Kenles occurrit episcopo cum loricatis quidam doniicellus, nomine Stephanus le Pouwer, serviens vel ballivus illius contratae in Ossoria quae vulgariter Ouerke appel- latur. Qui episcopum in strata publica aggreditur in hunc mo* dum : u Domine," inquit, " episcope, pro malo non habeatis : habemus aliqua vobis dicere multum nobis displicentia, oportet tamen facere quod nobis estinjunctum : habemus enim in mandatis ad capiendum et attachiandum personam vestram, cum omnibus bonis vestris et catallis, et ducendum ad prisonam castri Kilken- niae." Cui episcopus : " Fili, quis dedit tibi istud in mandatis V Cui serviens : " Dominus," inquit, u meus, dominus Arnaldus, se- nescallus totius comitatus." Cui episcopus : " Habes tu pro te
FOR SORCERY. 5
aliquod autenticum sub sii^illo ad hoc faciendum }" Qui rc- spondit: u Habeo, domine/' Et stathn protulit, et episcopo op*
tulit unani ccdulam, Blgillo domini Amaldi si»illatam, CUJUI scriptura hujua erat : u Prceceptum est servient] de Ouerke quod
capiat corpus fratris Ricardi de Lcddrcdc, episcopi Ossoriensis, cum omnibus bonis suis et catallis, ct illud prisons KilkenniflB
sine dilationc liberari faciat." Quani cedulam lcgens cpiscopus publice coram omnibus, licet notitiam satis haberet sigilli, quicsivit tamen a circumstantibus si omnes sigilli sui haberent notitiam? quod omnibus publice tradidit circumstantibus ad legendum et inspiciendum. Qui omnes sigillum notum cognoscentes, asseru- erunt sijnllum esse dicti domini et manum scribentis esse notam. Cui serviens : u Creclitis," inquit, " domine episcope, quod nos falsincaverimus sigillum domini Amaldi, vel tarn arduum nego- tium aggredi velimus sine preecepto et autentico, maxime cum sitis episcopus et dominus meus, et ego vester domicellus, portans robas vestras ?" Cui episcopus : " Non, fili, sed arduum nego- tium, ut dicis, aggressus es, et in arduis oportet testimonium habere veritatis : scis tu," inquit, " fili, ob quam causam dominus tuus hoc tibi dedit in mandatis r" Qui respondit : u Certe, domine, non ; sed hac nocte circa mediam noctem, vocato me coram ipso et Willelmo Outlawe in camera sua super lectum, jurare me com- pulit tactis sacrosanctis quod ego ista facerem et nulli detegerem donee opere completa essent." Cui episcopus: " Et nos, fili, causam bene conjicimus pro qua non tantum carcerem sed et mortem subire parati sumus ; valde tamen dolemus de domino tuo, filio et amico nostro karissimo, et de te qui semper nobis amicus fuisti et domicellus specialis, quod ita manifeste contra ecclesiam insurgitis, et ita profunde in sententiis excommunica- tionumvos immersitis quod a nemine absolvi potestis preeterquam a persona summi pontificis, qui caput est ecclesiee etvicarius Jhesu Christi : dolemus etiam valde ex eo quod totam nostram diocesim in isto sacro tempore quadragesimali per istud factum reddetis desolatam." Cui serviens : " Domine,'' inquit, " episcope, vos
G PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
nostis potentiam domini mei Arnaldi, cujus praeceptis resistere non sum ausus." Cui episcopus : " Igitur facere potes, fili, quod imperatum est tibi, et nos pro ecclesia Dei parati erimus sustinere." Cui serviens : Ci Eamus ergo ad carcerem." Cui respondit epis- copus : " Non, fib, sed plus requiritur : nam non reputamus nos captos nisi manu nos tangas, vel frenum equi nostri, vel saltern officii tui virga." Cui serviens : u Hoc ego pro omnibus bonis domini mei non facerem ut mittam in episcopum et dominum meum manum." Cui episcopus : " De alio modo capiendi vel attachiandi quemquam in dominio regis Angliae nondum audivi- mus ; et forte alias dominus tuus in excusationem sui nobis im- poneret quod non capti neque coacti sed sponte imus ad carcerem/' Cui serviens : (i Domine/' inquit, u non decet episcopum rapi per ilium modum per quern capiuntur populares ; sed totam vobis detegam veritatem, a domino meo juratus districte recepi in mandatis quod nisi hujusmodi captioni parere velitis, supra vos et vestros clamorem levabimus et hutesium, cum cornibus tubi- cinando, ac etiam contra vos patriam et populum concitando secundum morem patriae, ut fiat de persona vestra ac vestris et de bonis vestris omnibus quod fieri solet de felonibus domini regis," — ad quod faciendum loricati qui cum serviente erant et caeteri pedites cornua ad hoc parata habuerunt circa colla. Et statim serviens antedictus equum quern equitabat pungens calcaribus, se posuit ex transverso equi cui episcopus insidebat, adjiciens haec verba : u Domine episcope, adhuc ex parte domini mei domini Arnaldi tibi dicimus et mandamus, ne ulterius progrediaris in via ista, sed statim redeas et vadas nobiscum cum omnibus bonis tuis et catallis ad carcerem castri Kilkennise sine mora/' Cui episcopus, frenum equi statim retrahens, u Fili," inquit, u tibi non displiceat si aliquantulum deliberemus.'^ Et convocans omnes capellanos domicellos suos, et alios de patria qui sccum erant in magna comitiva, qusesivit ab eis si secundum morem patriae captio ista sufficiens videretur. Quibus omnibus respondentibus quod sic, adquievit eorum consilio, et cogitans penes se ipsum ne istud
FOR SORCERY. 7
in posterum verteretur in dubium, tit ad servientem : " Fili, da nobis autenticum tuum ad inspiciendum, et plenius deliberandum super eo." Quod cum recepisset ah eodem, dextra manu se- cretius apcriens bursarn suam rcposuit illud in eadem, diccns : " Eamus," inquit, " fili, ad carcerem cum benedictione Dei !" Cui serviens : €i Numquid, domine, vultis me autentico et wa- ranto meo spoliare ?" Et subridens episcopus respondit : w Fili, istud autenticum diligentcr portasti et ostendisti in testimonium de faciendo, et nos ex nunc illud nobiscum portabimus et dili- genter custodicmus in testimonium de obediendo." Et sic versus locum carceris cum capella, equis, hernesiis, et aliis bonis, insimul sunt regressi.
Transeuntibus igitur sic insimul versus carcerem, contigit ut per portam transirent hospitii in quo dictus dominus Arnaldus tunc temporis fuit hospitatus. Et ait serviens ad episcopum : " Placeat vobis, domine, personaliter intrare, vel saltern aliquos de capellanis vestris aut domicellis intromittere, ad dominum meum senescallum, et gratiam petere ab eodem ut per manucaptores vel fidejussors per vos oblatos et inventos ad respondendum coram eo certis die et loco stare possitis extra carcerem, et interim amici tractare poterunt inter vos de pacis reformatione }" Cui episcopus : " Fili, tu melius nosti quod a tempore fundationis ecclesiae Dei in Hy- bernia, archiepiscopi et episcopi sub Deo et domino nostro papa regi Anglise in temporalibus sunt subjecti ; unde curiis comitum seu baronum in nullo modo tenentur respondere, cum in spiritualibus superiores et majores et in temporalibus sunt vicini : absit igitur ut episcopus sub alis sacrosanctse sedis apostolicae nutritus, edu- catus, et promotus, in episcopum ad partes istas transmissus, tarn perniciosum aliis terree proceribus preebeat exemplum, ut episcopos et alios preelatos ecclesiae per attachiationes vel manu- captiones ad suas trahant curias seculares, quin potius carcerem magis subire volumus, vel mortem si oporteat, antequam ecclesiam Dei sponsam seculari subjiciamus servituti, maxime cum causam fidei habeamus in manibus, cujus cognitio ad dominum tuum non
§ PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
pertinet ullo modo in forma juris." Cui serviens : " Placet vobis, domine, ut ego personaliter vadam ad petendum nomine vestro gratiam istam }* Et respondit episcopus : " Non, fili : nam ex lege vestra regali ex consuetudine tenetis, si quis captus vel at- tachiatus capientem vel attachiantem deserit, apud curiam re- giam pro felone habetur; tu enim, sicut diximus, excommuni- catus es cum tua sequela, et dominus tuus similiter; forte si a nobis recederes poenitens non redires, et imponerent nobis maliciose adversarii ecclesiae fugam vel desertionem, et ideo quocunque vadas, absque dubio te sequemur." Cui ille: " Maledictus sit homo ille per quern dissensio ista inter dominos meos est seminata et tantum scandalum procuratum !" Et ait quidam loricatus de comitibus dicti servientis : " Fortiter trahit ille dextrarius magnus, quern Willelmus Outlawe domino meo Arnaldo pridie praesen- tavit, ex quo ad carcerem episcopum nostrum trahit : magnus ille et inauditus est tractus." Cui dictus serviens statim imposuit silentium ut taceret.
Venerunt igitur simul ad carcerem, ad cujus portam cum venissent, episcopus familiam suam lacrimantem blande consolans, ait : " Non debet esse dies ista vobis dies luctus et moeroris, sed magis gaudii et consolationis ; nam ad majorem honorem istam pro fide Christi incarcerationem nobis reputamus, quam aliquid quod umquam fuerit nobis factum in vita nostra, sacramento baptismatis tantum excepto et munere nostro consecrationis." Et sic locum carceris ingrediente episcopo tantum cum duobus capellanis et duobus aliis religiosis, statim dictus serviens custodi carceris aliam scripturam autenticam protulit et tradidit, sigillo consimili dicti domini Arnaldi ut praemittitur sigillatam, in qua scriptum erat quod ipse corpus episcopi in carcerem reciperet et salvo custodiret donee aliud receperit in mandatis. Detentus est igitur episcopus in carcere donee transacta esset dies ad quam citatus fuerat memoratus Willelmus. Siluit igitur ecclesia per totam diocesim, sine aliquo mandato per episcopum directo, districte servans interdictum juxta formam decretalis, Si quis
FOB IOKOBRY. \l
suadente, etc., maxhnc quia causa omnibus nota erat, etiam
pastoribus et bubulcis. Rationc cujus interdict*!, quia locus in quo detinebatur episcopus specialiter includitur in eodem, petivit episcopus corpus Christi usque ad carcercm sibi dcportari. I)c- canus igitur et capitulum cum toto clero civitatis, religiosis, et aliis, corpus Christi cum magna reverentia et bonore sibi proces- sionaliter detulerunt. Quod devote recipiens, causam fidei et ecclcsiae animamque ejus Christo recommendans^ corj)us suum coram omnibus in causa fidei prosecutoruni publico commisit voluntati. Efficitur clamor magnus, et omnes tarn seculares quam religiosi conrluebant ad castrum, et assumpto themate per os cujusdam fratris prosdicatoris, Beati qui persecutionem patiuntur, etc., episcopum ex parte omni confortabant.
Quae videns dictus Willelmus, ivit ad dominum Arnaldum apud Kenles, eidem efficaciter suggerens quod totus clerus et etiam populus civitatis confluebant ad castrum, et episcopo honores multos et reverentias exhibebant, xenia quamplurima eidem mit- tebant, unde et locus ille non career sed domus convivii vide- batur ; et quod omnes ad benedictionem suam conrluebant pe- tendam, sicut homines ad locum peregrinationis solent confluere. Qui statim majori constabulario accersito in praesentia ejusdem Willelmi si res ita se haberet quaesivit, districte inhibens ac etiam interdicens ne quis accessum ad locum carceris habeat, exceptis uno fratre socio et uno famulo ad faciendum sibi lectum et uno garcione ad parandum sibi prandium pro coquina. Cui respondit constabularius : " Domine/' inquit, " res ista est nova et in Hybernia inaudita, quod quis episcopus fuit incarceratus ; nee scimus quern exitum seu finem negotium capiet ; nee ego homo sum talis quod tantum et talem praelatum custodire audeam per hunc modum : potius ego officio et beneficio renunciabo imper- petuum, quam per me sic debeat custodiri ac etiam detineri." Eo igitur non obstante, permisit constabularius episcopum libere habere in sua comitiva die et nocte in loco carceris duos fratres minores et duos fratres praedicatores et duos capellanos seculares, camd. soc. c
10 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
et alios familiares omnes et amicos episcopi liberum accessum, ingressum, et egressum, pro suae libito voluntatis.
Episcopo igitur incarcerato, ut praemittitur, statim mandavit dominus Arnaldus senescallus voce praeconia in qualibet villa mercatoria per totum comitatum publice proclamari, quicunque esset qui vellet de episcopo conqueri, de clericis suis vel familiari- bus, statim veniret ad eum et remedium inveniret cum omni gratia et favore. Cum tamen episcopus in nullo sit subjectus senescallo vel comiti, neque in temporalibus neque in spiritualibus, nee suae jurisdiction! in aliquo, ipse tamen nihilominus multas et varias cepit inquisitiones contra episcopum. Sed (benedictus Deus !) nihil prorsus invenit, nee etiam unum verbum. Missi sunt igitur duo justiciarii de curia regia per cancellarium domini regis et magistrum Walterum de Isteleppe, domini regis thesaurarium, ad civitatem Kilkenniae, coram quibus citavit et citari fecit dictus senescallus omnes nobiles totius comitatus ac etiam populares ad inquirendum de episcopo, clericis, et ministris ejus, ac etiam excessibus eorundem. Et licet in inquisitione multa falsa per cedulas et billas enormia et gravia essent intromissa, noluerunt tamen jurati, sicut nee veraciter potuerunt, in quacunque in- quisitione episcopum in aliquo accusare, nee contra episcopum aut aliquem de suis aliquid deponere, in modico vel in magno. Per omnia benedictus Deus ! qui salvat sperantes in eum. Quod videns supradictus YYillelmus Outlawe, statim accessit et in archivis cancellariae libertatis Kilkenniae manu propria scrutatus est quandam indictationem sive accusationem, personam episcopi tangentem, antiquam, falsam, et ob hoc judicialiter cancellatam et quassatam, in qua episcopo fuerat impositum quod ipse de bonis cujusdam intestati debuit se intromisisse et sibi appropriasse, uxore dicti defuncti reclamante. Quam, non obstante quod esset cancellata et quassata, cum titulo scripturae dicente, " Nihil ad nos," quia pertinet ad forum ecclesiasticum, nihilominus tamen transcribi fecit eandem de nova manu, et scripturam illam cum sotularibus propriis fricavit ne appareret de novo scripta, et sic
FOR SORCERY. I 1
inisit custodi sigilli regii cjusdcni libertatis ad ligillandum eandem et curiae regis destinandum. Cui dictus custos respondit quod
pro omnibus bonis suis et divitiis non consent iret taut a* falsi! ati, et niaxiinc quia veritate detecta notari posset de proditione et
finaliter confnndi. Detulit igitur idem VVillelmus eandem domino Arnaldo senescallo, si forte sub colore ejusdem incarceratio episcopi injusta colorari posset. Qui statim nuncios misit ad episcopum in carcere, petens ab eo fidejussores vel manucaptores ad re- spondendum sibi in curia sua seculari, et ipse episcopum de carcere liberaret. Quibus respondit episcopus, quod episcopus Ossoriensis soli Deo et domino papae ac suis prsclatis in suis spiritualibus est subjectus, et tantum domino regi Angliee in temporalibus, propter quod nee sibi nee alteri tenebatur in judicio respondere. Insuper causa vera et realis pro qua est incarceratus episcopus, causa est fidei, quae ad judicem non pertinet seculare. Causa etiam quam preetendit est per ipsummet judicialiter quas- sata et cancellata, prout patet in rotulis cancellarise, et per literam suam propriam sigillo senescalli sigillatam. Et posito quod esset vera, causa tamen est testamentaria, et ad forum ecclesiasticum noscitur pertinere. Absit igitur quod propter timorem carceris, vel cujuscunque tormenti, ecclesiam Dei liberam episcopus seculari subjiciat servituti. Insuper quia ipsi in causa fidei episcopum hecreticos persequentem, et contra eos in forum ecclesiee proce- dentem, incarcerarunt, excommunicati sunt ipso facto, unde et ipse coram excommunicatis non tenebatur respondere.
Octavadecima die misit dominus Arnaldus senescallus, per manus episcopi Loglinensis, avunculi sui, et vicecomitis Kil- kenniee, warantum sub sigillo suo constabulario castri ad liber- andum corpus episcopi, et quod libere permitteretur abire quo- cunque vellet. Quibus januas aperientibus respondit episcopus : " Non decet," inquit, " episcopum pro fide Christi incarceratum carcerem exire sicut furem vel homicidam. Afferte," inquit, " nobis nostra pontificalia ; nam hodie ecclesia Dei de suis et nostris adversariis incipit triumphare, et ideo justum est ut
12 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
laudes cum debita solennitate ac etiam jocunditate cordis Deo persolvamus." Et sic cum toto clero solenniter inducto ac etiam populo infinito, cum magna solennitate, per medium totius civi- tatis processionaliter suam ecclesiam adiit cathedralem ; et statim coram populo, assumpto themate, " Laqueus contritus est, et nos liberati sumus ; adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini," coram omnibus contra dictos haereticos ubi dimiserat constanter suos continuavit processus. Et quia episcopus in carcere detentus erat donee transacta esset dies ilia ad quam citatus fuerat supradictus Willelmus, de hseresi notatus, receptatione et favore iterato, epis- copus eundem ad alium diem citavit, et per publicum edictum in foribus civitatis et valvis ecclesiarum appensum citari mandavit in causa fidei tarn matrem quam filium. Sed parum ante diem ilium prcefixum quo coram episcopo comparere debuerant, venit quidam serviens ex parte cancellarii regis, quoddam breve regium eidem demonstrans vicecomiti Dubliniae directum, ad habendum corpus dicti episcopi eodem die ad quern erant citati coram justiciario Hyberniae, ubicunque esset in Hybernia, ad respondendum domino regi quare episcopus in sua dyocesi posuerat interdictum, et ad respondendum domino Arnaldo le Pouwer super querela sua, dicto justiciario nihil penitus sciente de hujusmodi mandato. Cui etiam dixit dictus serviens, quod nisi episcopus foret praesens corporaliter illo die coram justiciario, amerciaretur in mille libris. Et sic nee prima die nee secunda sine impedimento prosequi potuit episcopus causam fidei memoratam. Citatus est etiam episcopus per magistrum Willelmum de Rod3erd, decanum ec- clesiae metropolitanee, vicarium domini archiepiscopi Dublinensis, ipso in remotis agente, quod compareret coram eo Dubliniae ad respondendum querelae dicti domini Arnaldi, et specialiter quare per ipsum terrae suae ecclesiastico suppositae fuerant interdicto. Sed episcopus per procuratorem suum comparens, legitime se excusavit, quod ad locum ilium accedendi per viam tutus sibi et suis non patebat accessus, praesertim cum versus locum ilium transitus alius nullus sit nisi per terras et potentiam dicti domini
I OR SORCKRY. 15
Arnaldi et suorum, quia tunc temporis sencscallus crat cmnitatus (lc Carlagh, et ibidem curiam suam et placira publice contiiiuabat.
Sed decanus supradictua et vicarius, excueatione episcopi non
admissa sed ivpulsa in favorem dicti domini Amaldi, per litems suas patentee interdictum relaxavit pnedictum. Quod, utiquc
sicut postmodum episcopo retulit, nullo modo feciseet si ei do veritate et maxime in causa fidei, ut postmodum patuit, plcnius const it issct.
Cum igitur dictus scncscallus lil)crtatis KilkennitC, die Lumc
proxima post octabaa Paschaa anno domini M°. ccc° xxiiij0., in
civitate KilkennisB in aula ejusdem judiciali sua teneret placita,
coram ipso militibus omnibus, nobilibus, et aliis libere tenentibus
insimul convocatis, decrevit episcopus cum consilio peritorum
cleri sui super pnemissis invocandum ab ipso et ministris rei-
publica3 auxilium bracbii secularis, ad quod faciendum precmisit
religiosos viros priorem fratrum prscdicatorum, gardianum fratrum
minorum Kilkennite, cum eorum sociis, petens per eosdem a
dicto senescallo sedente pro tribunali, quod idem episcopus in
causa fidei et ecclesiee verba quasdam posset dicere coram ipso,
nobilibus, et populo, parochianis suis ibidem congregatis. Qui
redeuntes ad episcopum ex parte dicti senescalli responderunt
quod episcopus aulam judicialem non intraret nisi suo periculo
ullo modo. Quod episcopus audiens, " Absit," inquit, (i ut in
causa fidei vir ecclesiasticus minas judicum timere debeat vel
terrores !M Et statim pontificalibus indutus, corpus Christi portans
in manibus solenniter in vase deaurato cum luminaribus, cum
dictis priore et aliis quinque fratribus de ordine preedicatorum,
gardiano et aliis quinque fratribus de ordine minorum, ac etiam
capellanis suis et clericis, processit ad tribunal dicti senescalli.
Cui post ingressum aulae obviantes quidam nobiles inhibuerunt ex
parte dicti senescalli ne ulterius progrederetur, minas graves in-
tentantes eidem. Quibus episcopus respondit: " Absit," inquit,
** quod causa fidei inter tot christianos tepescat vel pereat propter
minas J" Ascendens igitur episcopus constanter ad tribunal, et
14 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
reverenter elevans corpus Christi, petivit a senescallo, justiciario, vicecomite, et ballivis, quod ob reverentiam et amorem Christi quern tenebat in manibus, audientia in causa fidei sibi concede- retur. In quern dictus dominus Arnaldus senescallus multis obprobriis et vituperiis irreverenter statim irruens, nulla Christo facta reverentia debita vel honore, cum magno vituperio et clamore et infinito populi scandalo, episcopum cum corpore Christi a sua pnesentia turpiter ejecit et de aula fugavit. Stans igitur episcopus in hostio aulae, tarn clerum quam etiam populum totum invocavit in testimonium, quod in causa fidei et expugnatione heereticorum sibi et ecclesise fuit audientia denegata.
Tandem ad preces magnas militum et nobilium, licet cum magna difricultate hoc optinuerint, reductus est episcopus ad preesentiam dicti senescalli. Quern videns senescallus, statim praecepit ut ad barram, scilicet ad locum ilium duceretur ille vilis rusticus trutannus de Anglia, cum suo hordys quern portat in manibus, ubi stare consueverunt latrones et rei quando pro suis flagitiis debent judicari. Quod videns episcopus, respondit coram omnibus alta voce : iC Heu ! heu ! heu !" inquit, " quod ad hunc statum devenit fides Christiana, quod ad barram mittitur Christus ad standum in causa propria coram judice mortali inter Chris- tianos, quod a seculo non est auditum postquam stetit coram praeside Pontio Pilato ! Domine," inquit episcopus, " Arnalde senescalle, ex parte Christi quern tenemus in manibus et sanctae ecclesiae Dei, requirimus et monemus te et judices tuos, vice- comitem et ballivos, ac etiam officiales, quod juramentum nobis et ecclesiae Dei praestes praecise attendere, inviolabiliter observare, ac facere a tuis subditis observari, toto tempore tui regiminis, con- stitutiones per sedem apostolicam promulgatas et approbatas contra heereticos, credentes, receptatores, fautores, et eorum de- fensores." Cui senescallus statim coram omnibus respondit : " Rem istam tibi nunquam ero facturus." Cui statim episcopus, coram omnibus librum decretalium in manu tenens apertum, M Tu,^ inquit, a miles cum sis aliqualiter literatus, ne ignorantia
I Oil SOU (KIM . lf>
in hoc facto tc posset cxcusarc, parati suinus coram totO isto
populo tibi ostendere et legere in istis decretalibas, quod tu ct officialcs tui hoc facere tenemini sub poems gravibua in eisdem contentis." Cui respondit senescallus: " Yade/' inquit, u ad ecclesiam cum tuis dccretalibus, ct. prodica ibi, quia juramentum istud tibi nunquam faciemus." Cui episcopus : " Cum in nostril visitationibus nupcr invcncrimus dc lweresi notafos, ct rclapsos quosdam eis credentes, et eorum fautores, receptatores, et defen- sores, ex parte Christi redemptoris nostri, quern tenemus in manibus, et sanctae matris ecclesiae, te requirimus et monemus primo, secundo, et tertio, auxilium tuum et brachii secularis invocando, ut personas istas pestiferas, quas tibi coram toto populo sub sigillo nostro offerimus in biis scriptis, capias seu capi facias sine mora, ad carcerem ducas seu duci facias, in arcta et secura custodia detinendo donee eorum negotium per ecclesiae judicium terminetmv" Quam quidem monitionem dictus epis- copus tarn in Anglico quam in Gallico coram toto populo tertio rcplicavit. Quod cum facere senescallus publice coram omnibus recusaret, nnaliter episcopus, pro eo quod fama publica in populo et suspicio in fide erat de dicta Alicia Kyteler et Willelmo Out lawe filio ejusdem, duas istas personas nominatim expressit in vulgari, monendo, requirendo ex parte ecclesiee, ac etiam ad- jurando, ut eas caperet, incarceraret, et salvo custodiret, secundum sacros canones sub poenis statutis in eisdem. Cui dictus senes- callus respondit publice coram omnibus : (i Provideas tibi," in- quit, " de alio adjutorio in curia regia vel aliunde, quia in isto negocio tua jurisdictio de curia ista a nobis nullum adjutorium reportabit." Quibus dictis, episcopus super hiis testimonium omnium qui praesentes erant invocavit, et recessit.
Post cujus recessum, ad suggestionem et procurationem dictae dominse Aliciae sortilegae et haereticae, statim citatus est episcopus Ossoriensis per literas domini officialis curiae Dublinensis, quod compareret certis die et loco responsurus in causa appellationis petition! dictae dominae, super infamia in crimine haeresis, ac etiam
16 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
quare ipsam non citatam, non monitam, non convictam super dicto crimine, solenniter excommunicaverat, a qua sententia, tanquam ab iniqua et injusta, dixit se appellasse ad curiam Dublinensem. Quibus die et loco episcopo per procuratorem comparente, ac etiam per literas et advocatos jurisperitos publice respondente, quod dicta sortilega alias convicta fuerat coram dicto episcopo de haeresi, post cujus abjurationem, fama publica com- pellente et testibus super hoc apparentibus, episcopus ex officio super crimine haeresis contra ipsam procedit de relapsu, nihilominus spretis allegationibus ex parte episcopi propositus, saepefata domina sortilega et haeretica et maga libere permittitur in civitate cum fidelibus convivere, deducentibus earn solenniter Willelmo Douce- manne, civitatis Dubliniae, et aliis quamplurimis clericis et laicis, et in consistoriis publicis inter primos et majores solenniter collocatur. Allegato igitur publice in consistoriis archiepiscopi pro parte episcopi per discretum virum magistrum Willelmum de Notyngham, jurisperitum, qui solus in causa fidei inventus est ausus inter tot adversa allegare et proponere quod in crimine tarn detestabili sicut est crimen haeresis locum non habet appellatio, maxime ubi per diocesanum seu inquisitorem agitur de relapsu, dictus tamen officialis nihilominus spretis allegationibus causam commisit variis commissariis, propter quod magnis laboribus et expensis episcopus multipliciter est afflictus.
Misit etiam eodem tempore saepedictus cancellarius ad prae- dictum episcopum literas regias sub sigillo magno domini regis, ad citandum eundem quod compareret in parliamento Dubliniae coram justiciario Hiberniae et terrae proceribus. Sed episcopus sperans ibidem adjutorium in causa fidei se habiturum ratione praelatorum ibidem congregandorum, versus Dubliniam ad arri- piendum iter sine magno discrimine se paravit. Contra quern per viam in quodam ponte armatorum insidiae parabantur occulte ad dandum eidem insultum, per quern locum oportuit ipsum necessario transire, si tamen via regia transire vellet. Propter quod oportuit episcopum cum paucis extraneis per loca deserta,
rOB lOBGBBYt 17
montuosa ct invia iter arriperc versus I)ublini;un, c< DOB sine, magno diacrimine viarum pertransire, capellanis suis propriisj
clericis, ct domicellis, et caeteris de faniilia sua interim fugientibus et latitantibus die ct nocte in silvis et loeis p.tludosis.
Quo cum pervenisset, totam curiam regis integre ac ctiam archicpiscopi contra ipsum invenit informatam ; audientiam tamen et auxilium in causa fidei coram omnil)us pnclatis et terrae pro- ceril)us publice postulabat. Cui statim coram omnibus audientia fuit denegata, et silentium ei impositum, donee parliamentum es- set consummatum. Sequente vero die, justiciario et consilio regis private separatim existentibus, praelatis vero, comitibus, baronibus et aliis terrae proceribus existentibus in aula, venit dictus dominus Arnaldus, Willelmum Outlawe antedictum de robis suis habens in comitiva, cedulam portans in manu quasi ex parte consilii regis. Tria proposuit in genere in parliamento tractanda; in quorum principio continebatur quod voluntas domini regis est quod ec- clesia suis gaudeat libertatibus prout in carta magna continetur. Et statim adjecit dictus dominus Arnaldus de capite proprio : " Notate/' inquit, " non dicit rex quibuscunque libertatibus, sed prout continetur in carta magna; si enim trutannus aliquis de Anglia vel aliunde bullam seu privilegium impetraverit in curia papae, nos dictae bullae non tenemur obedire, nisi sub sigillo regis hoc nobis fuerit intimatum. Hoc dicimus, quia vos melius nostis quod in terra Hybernia? nunquam inventi fuerunt haeretici, sed insula sanctorum consuevit appellari ; nunc autem venit quidam alienigena de Anglia, et dicit nos omnes esse haereticos et excommunicatos, allegans pro se quasdam constitutions papales de quibus nunquam audivimus usque modo ; et quia infamia istius terrae personas omnium nostrum tangit, decet ut vos omnes partem faciatis contra ipsum/' Caeteri igitur episcopi Ossoriensem episcopum pulsare coeperunt, ut aliquid ei responderet, ne coram tanta multitudine qualemcunque victoriam in causa fidei videretur reportare. Et ait episcopus Ossoriensis coram omnibus : u Ye- nerabiles," inquit, " patres et domini, licet multa per istum nobilem
CAMD. SOC. D
18 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
dominum et potentem coram vobis sint proposita. veritate tamen non omnia fulciuntur : privilegia enim ecclesiae multa sunt valde, qua2 in una parva cartula non possent de facili singulariter con- tineri. Nulli etiam dubium est quin, sicut reges et principes mundi de suis temporalibus disponunt, leges condunt et statuta, sic et dominus noster papa, qui est Christi vicarius, libere de spiritualibus habet disponere et statuere, et maxime in causa fidei, quomodo servari debeat et tueri, cui etiam et nos et vos omnes, reges etiam et principes, obedire tenemur. Quod vero tertio dicit, quod ad terrae et vestrorum omnium difFamationem vos omnes dicimus hsereticos et excommunicatos, salva pace tanti viri et tantae potentia?, non est verum : non enim in infamiam redundat bono- rum quod mali inter bonos inveniantur, nisi a bonis in sua malitia foveantur et protegantur. Nam inter Christi discipulos Judas inventus est proditor, et inter multos sanctos multi mali sunt inventi, et nos in nostra diocesi, in medio multorum bonorum et justorum, nidum unum invenimus diabolicum, turpiorem qui un- quam in regno seu dominio domini regis Angliae sit inventus ; ad cujus purgationem cum procederemus, sicut ex debito officii sumus astricti, adversitates non modicas passi sumus, modernis temporibus inauditas ; verum propter potentiam et divitias ad- versariorum pontificalibus induti, corpus Christi portando in manibus, cum presbiterorum et religiosorum magna comitiva, auxilium tuum, domine Arnalde, ratione officii tui in loco ubi sedisti instanter imploravimus contra hsereticos memoratos, sed et tu nulla creatori tuo facta reverentia, dominum nostrum et regem omnium ac etiam patrem tuum episcopum cum vituperiis et tumultu maximo a facie tua extra aulam judicialem turpiter ejecisti, auxilium tuum ecclesiae in causa fidei penitus denegando, jurare etiam contemnens requisitus prout canonica dictant instituta, in perniciem fidei et scandalum populi infinitum, propter quod sen- tentias a canone latas per medium capitis tui te noveris incurrisse, nee credas dominum nostrum sanctissimum Christi vicarium episcopum sub alis sanctoe Romanae ecclesiae nutritum ad vos
FOR SORCERY. I!'
transmisissc qui in causa fidei tuain timcat potent iam, minas, sen terrores, quin potius non solum carccrcm led et mortem si oporteat crinms cum Dei adjutorio parati sustincrc. Vestro igitur praelatorum et aliorum nobilium rclinquimus judicio, n haec Mgna et opera fidelium dici del)cant an aliorum."
HflBC audiens dominus Arnaldus in iram veliementer commotus surrexit, et episcopo respondit : " Bene bene dabitur tibi obviam quocunque vadas." Cui episcopus : u Si nobis obviam cum tuis satellitil)us veneris, paratum invenies qui animo lacto et jocundo pro ride Christi occurrat tibi." Et hiis dictis, accepta sccum militia sua cum procfato Willelmo, cacteris omnibus in parliamento existentibus, recessit ab aula.
Sed cum multi, immo quasi omnes, ad standum firmiter in causa fidei episcopum animarent, non est tamen quisquam inventus inter omnes qui publice se auderet exponere, propter timorem adversariorum et eorum amicos et fautores. Episcopis igitur et aliis preelatis simul existentibus in parliamento una cum discreto viro decano cathedrali ac etiam vicario generali ecclesiee Dub- linensis, accessit ad eos episcopus Ossoriensis, consilium et auxi- lium in causa fidei petens ab eisdem. Cui respondet vicarius supradictus, quod in terra Hibernise dominus Arnaldus le Power est vir magnoe potentiae, et expediret primum quod inter episcopum et ipsum pax reformaretur, et extunc in causa ecclesiee liberius procedi posset. Cui episcopus Ossoriensis : " Cum sint," inquit, u simul hie congregati preelati quamplures, et viri catholici, allegatis bine inde ex utraque parte rationibus, nos libenter in hac parte, salvo jure Dei et ecclesiee, vestrae stabimus ordinationi." Finaliter ex parte episcopi Ossoriensis et domini Arnaldi conventum erat, quod quatuor episcopi, scilicet Fernensis, Darensis, Ymelacensis, et Lysmonensis, una cum supradicto decano vicario generali domini archiepiscopi Dublinensis, causas hinc inde audirent, et amicabiliter tractarent super pacis reformatione inter ipsos. Sed cum epis- copus Ossoriensis inter caatera gravamina sua allegaret in causa fidei injustam incarcerationem, decanus supradictus vehementei
20 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
admirans, ad credendum se reddidit difficilem, donee episcopus literam sigillatam sigillo noto dicti domini Arnaldi coram omnibus episcopis ostenderet, in qua expresse erat praeceptum per eundem, ut praemittitur, super ejus captione et incarceratione. Quibus episcopus Ossoriensis : K Factum/5 inquit, u est in se tarn noto- rium et patens, quod neminem latet in Ossoria, immo nee pastores nee bubulcos." Ad informationem igitur dictorum praelatorum una cum dicto decano, coram majore justiciario Hyberniae ac etiam toto consilio regni, supradictus dominus Arnaldus le Power episcopo Ossoriensi se humiliavit, veniam petens super injuriis illatis ab eodem. Cui statim coram omnibus respondit episcopus, quod libenter eidem omnem remitteret quantum in ipso est in- juriam personalem, etiam si in decuplo major esset, dumtamen hsereticis et eorum fautoribus et receptatoribus in sua diocesi defensionem non praestaret vel juvamen, sed libere permitteret eundem inimicos Christi prosequi et contra eosdem procedere secundum canonicas sanctiones. Quod pro eo fideliter manucepe- runt episcopi cum vicario domini archiepiscopi supradicto. Et sic osculati sunt mutuo coram praelatis et omnibus de consilio regis, facta pace inter ipsos ; beneficium tamen absolutionis non habuit nee petivit, sciens episcopi potestatem ad hoc extendere se non posse, sicut per supradictos episcopos et vicarium domini archi- episcopi supradictum sibi extiterat intimatum.
Porrexit igitur episcopus literas patentes sigillo suo signatas supplicatorias preefato cancellario domini regis, ut supradictam Aliciam Kyteler excommunicatam per quadraginta dies et amplius in causa haeresis pro suis contumaciis pariter et offensis per breve regium capi mandaret, et secundum formam sacrorum canonum carceri mancipari, maxime quia in civitate Dubliniae et partibus circumvicinis publice conversabatur. Rogavit etiam episcopus venerabilem virum magistrum Willelmum, decanum ecclesice cathedralis Dubliniae, domini archiepiscopi Dublinensis vicarium generalem, quod ipse in favorem fidei Christianae citaret dictam Aliciam ad respondendum certo die apud Kylkenniam in Ossoria
FOR HOKCKIIY. '2\
Bpiscopo mcmorato super crimine lucresis ct relapsus. Cui benigne et gratiosc annuit, viriliter ]>r<) fide Be opponens. Bed non obstante diligentia episcopi personalis ac etiam suorum clericorum el procu-
ratorum, litems tamcii regiafl pro captione dictae Alicia Donqnam potuit optinere, donee mediante eitatione in publico COnsistorio Dubliniee facta, quani dictus dominus decanus personaliter ibidem deprehendit, causa hacresis omnibus esset patefacta, et supradicta haeretica manus ecclesiac libere de eivitate Dubliniffi subterfugisset. Rogavit igitur episcopus dominum justiciarium Hyberniae, can- cellarium, thesaurarium, et cacteros de consilio domini regis, quod in adjutorium fidei Christians in transitu eorum per civitatem Kilkenniae suum benignum praebere vellent auditum, ne adversarii ecclesiae, qui divites sunt et potentes, aliud suggerant regiae ma- jestati quam denunciatum sit ecclesiae et inventum de processu. Cui benigne ut vir catholicus annuit justiciarius, et ejusdem ad- ventum concessit in proximo affuturum.
Episcopo igitur, ut praedicitur, existente apud Dubliniam circa negotia fidei et ecclesiae, ipse misit commissionem quandam officiali Ossoriae et duobus aliis clericis jurisperitis, ad inquirendum et investigandum in causa fidei contra haereticos memoratos. Quorum commissio cum in consistorio in ecclesia cathedrali et capitulis ruralibus lecta esset et patefacta, statim mandatum est per majores reipublieae rectores in Ossoria omnibus servientibus per totum comitatum, ad pracdictos clericos capiendum et carceri Kilkenniae mancipandum. Praecepit etiam pnedictus senescallus prsefato vicecomiti et Willelmo Outlawe supradicto laicis, quod ipsi procederent et inquirerent in causa fidei de sortilegiis, si forte vera essent quae per episcopum erant suggesta. Qui suam com- missionem inchoantes in eivitate Kilkenniae, dimiserunt cives ejusdem in tres partes, tres facientes inquisitiones, quarum quae- libet inquisitio singillatim et publice matrem dicti Willelmi una cum sex sodalibus suis sortilegis in causa fidei, ut praemittitur, manifeste notavit et fcedavit. Quod videns dictus vicecomes et ministri ejusdem, auctoritate propria et dicti senescalli pauperiores
22 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
quidem ceperunt et diversis carceribus manciparunt, sed matrem Willelmi Outlawe, magistram omnium, libere aufugere permise- runt.
Audiens igitur episcopus, apud Dubliniam existens, personas illas pro parte incarceratas pro quarum caption e petiverat, licet hoc facere contempserint ministri seculares ad requisitionem ejusdem et ecclesiae, leetus tamen ad propriam suam remeavit diocesim. Sed antequam ad pontem ilium periculosum, ubi latitabant in- sidiae ut preemissum est, deveniret, pro certo didicit quod omnes adversarii sui qui in insidiis latitaverant die immediate praecedente per suos inimicos fuerant decollati, et eorum capitaneus de genere dicti domini Arnaldi captus et letaliter vulneratus. Veniens igitur episcopus ad civitatem Kilkenniae, statim cum magna multitudine clericorum, religiosorum, et aliorum nobilium majorum totius civita- tis loca carcerum introivit, et tactis sacrosanctis evangeliis quaesivit ab incarceratis super articulis et haeresibus supradictis. Qui statim coram omnibus omnia fatebantur supradicta, et illorum et multorum aliorum criminum detestabilium quasi infinitorum se reos sunt publice confessati. Dixerunt etiam dictam dominam Aliciam Kyteler in praemissis omnibus esse et fuisse matrem et magistram. Scripsit igitur episcopus literas suas patentes sae- pefato cancellario ut ipse literas regias concederet de domini regis cancellaria, quarum tenor talis est :
" Supplicat vestrae magnae discretioni, frater Rogere Outlawe, cancellarie domini nostri regis Anglise in Hybernia, frater Ricardus Dei et apostolicee sedis gratia Ossoriensis episcopus, cum in sua diocesi praedicta quamplures sint personae de haeresibus notatae, diflfamatae, et coram eo indictatae, ac etiam nonnullae personae fautores, credentes, receptatores, et defensores earundem, quatinus vicecomiti Kilkenniae caeterisque servientibus et ballivis dicti comitatus breve regium mittere velitis ex officio cancellariae, pro earundem investigatione, captione sine mora, ac etiam in carcere sive in castro Kilkenniae detentione et custodia diligenti, cum per episcopum diocesanum fuerint requisti, donee negotium ridei per
i'()U lOROERY.
ecclesiae judicium tcnninctur secundum constitutioncs papales ct ecclcsiasticas libertates, quarom una pnescntibus est conjunct*.
accelcrantcs si placet lmjusinodi ncgotium tidei, ct tractanhs
secretius, dc per robterfugia hnjunaodi personas, in ■candahun
iidei et ecclesiae, quod absit, contingat cvagari. In cujus sup- plicationis testimonium, sigillum nostrum pnescntibus est ap- pensum. Dat. apud Acheth, vj° die Junii, anno Domini M°. ccc". xxiiijV
Cui etiam consui fecit et appendi transcriptum illius constitu- tionis extra de heereticis, Ut inquisitionis negocium, etc. Scripsit et literas consimiles patentes magistro Waltero de Istelcppe, thesaurario et custodi libertatis Kilkennise, cui per regiam majes- tatem et literas patentes speciales cura totius comitatus tradita fuit specialis, sub hac forma :
" Supplicat vestrae magnse discretioni, domine Waltere de Isteleppe, thesaurarie domini nostri regis Angliee in Hybernia, frater Ricardus Dei et apostolicae sedis gratia Ossoriensis episco- pus, cum regimen et cura principalis comitatus Kylkenniae sive Ossoriae per literas patentes ex commissione regia ad vos per- tineat, sitisque astricti ratione hujusmodi officii secundum sanc- torum patrum instituta ad investigandum capiendumque haereticos, eisdem credentes, fautores, receptatores, et defensores eorundem, cum ad hoc per loci diocesanum canonice fueritis requisiti, quatinus ad nostram requisitionem, qua vos requirimus in hiis scriptis, Aliciam Kyteler matrem Willelmi Outlawe, Willelmum Outlawe filium ejusdem, Robertum de Bristollia clericum, Jo- hannem Galrussyn, Willelmum Payn de Boly, Petronillam de Midia, Saram filiam ejusdem, Aliciam uxorem Henrici Fabri, Annotam Lange, Elenam Galrussyn, Syssok Galrussyn, et Evam de Brounestoun, nostree diocesis, coram nobis notatas, diffamatas, et vehementer suspectas de praedictis, capi facere, vel pro eorundem captione vicecomiti Kylkenniae caeterisque servien- tibus et ballivis ejusdem districtius mandare, ut in carcerem castri Kilkenniee inducant seu induci faciant eosdem sine mora, ibidem
21 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
sub salva custodia remansuros, donee hujusmodi negotium fidei per ecclesiae judicium terminetur secundum ecclesiasticas libertates et constitutiones papales, quarum una prgesentibus est conjuncta, accelerantes si placet hujusmodi negotium fidei, et tractantes secretius, ne per subterfugia hujusmodi personee in scandalum fidei et ecclesiae possint evagari. In cujus requisitionis testi- monium, sigillum nostrum praesentibus est appensum. Data apud Acheth, vj° die Junii, anno Domini m°. ccc°. vicesimo quarto/'
Quas literas utrique apud Dubliniam praesentari fecit per nuntios speciales. Verum quia negotium tangebat Willelmum supradictum, qui est consanguineus cancellarii et amicus specialis thesaurarii, literas seu mandatum ad capiendum supradictas personas episcopus a neutro potuit optinere. Quod cernens episcopus, literas patentes consimiles scripsit domino justiciario Hyberniae, attentius supplicando quod ipse praeciperet et mandaret cancellario domini regis quod ipse breve regium concederet epis- copo, secundum tenorem constitutionis memoratae, ad capiendum et incarcerandum personas memoratas. Qui viso tenore con- stitutionis papalis, statim mandavit cancellario, per unam billam sigillo suo signatam, quod cancellarius breve regium concederet ad capiendum, ut praemittitur, et incarcerandum eosdem. Sed non sic adhuc episcopus potuit optinere expresse breve regium ad capiendum et incarcerandum eosdem secundum sacros canones, sed tantummodo breve tenorem qui sequitur continens, domino Arnaldo le Power senescallo supradicto directum :
" Significant nobis venerabilis pater Ricardus episcopus Osso- riensis per literas suas patentes, quod Alicia Kiteler mater Willelmi Outlawe, Willelmus Outlawe filius ejusdem, Johannes Galrussyn, etc. suae diocesis, super criminibus haereticae pravi- tatis coram ipso sunt irretiti, ad quos castigandos et corrigendos juxta canonum sanctiones brachium nostrum invocat seculare. Quia vero potestas regia sacrosanctae ecclesiae in querelis suis deesse non debet, tibi praecipimus quod praedictos Aliciam, Willelmum, Johannem, etc. corpora sua secundum consuetudinem
rOH SORCERY, 25
terra nostra Hyberniee justicics, donee lancta ecclesia reconcili^
ciilur, et satisfeccrint cideni. Data apud Dubliniam, etc.
Propter cujua tenorem ministri reipublicsa dixcrunt se nescire quid facere, nee teneri precise ad capiendumj incarcerandum, ct
detinendum personas, quin per fidejussorcs ct manucaptores libere possint evagari. Quod ecrnens cpiscopus, adjutorium a ssspefato justiciario invocabat, iterato attcntius Bupplicando ut snain prasentdam in tarn arduo fidci negotio episcopo omni auxilio
dostituto apud Kylkcnniam vcllet exhibere. Cui benigne con- cessit justiciarius memoratus. Ante cujus adventum citari fecit episcopus Willelmum Outlawe sacpefatum, ad respondendum coram eo in causa fidei, et aliis sibi ex officio objieiendis, in ecclesia beatrc Mariae Virginis apud Kilkenniam. Quo die scdente episcopo Ossoriensi pro tribunal^ coassistente sibi venerabili patre domino episcopo Lysmonensi, cum magna cleri et populi multitu- dine, comparuit idem Willelmus, armatus usque ad dentes multi- plici armatura tarn linea quam ferrea, cum armatorum sequela magna, episcopo et suis existentibus sine armis. Cui nihilominus episcopus objecit in facie notam heeresis, ac etiam favorem, re- ceptationem, et defensionem haereticorum, quamplures etiam alios articulos, scilicet usuras, perjuria, adulteria, clericidia, et excom- municationesj usque ad triginta quatuor capitula. Qui de consilio advocatorum copiam petiit objectorum. Qua concessa, datus fuit sibi ad respondendum in ecclesia memorata dies talis^ quo die adventus justiciarii sperabatur.
Adveniente igitur justiciario, in praesentia sua et dictorum cancellarii, thesaurarii, et consilii regii, ac etiam procerum et no- bilium totius terrae, episcopus sedens pro tribunali processus omnes et acta contra pnedictam Aliciam haereticam coram toto populo fecit recitari. Et de communi consensu jurisperitorum secularium et religiosorum, dictam sortilegam, magam, baereticam, et relapsam pronunciavit judicio seculari tradendam, ac etiam animadversione debita puniendam, et bona confiscata. Quod per literas patentes sigillo suo signatas justiciario terrae, thesaurario saepefato, et cus-
CAMD. SOC. E
26 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAUB ALICE KYTELER
todi ac senescallo libertatis Kilkenniae, et cacteris ministris rei- publicae, in forma ecclesiae notificavit, ad exequendum quod ad eos pertinet in hac parte. Sed hiis omnibus non obstantibus, in scandalum fidei et ecclesiae nimis libere usque in praesens permitti- tur evagari. Fecit igitur episcopus eodem die in medio civitatis Kilkenniae ignem fieri copiosum, in quo unum saccum plenum de suis pixidibus, pulveribus, unguentis, unguibus, crinibus, herbis, vermibus, et aliis detestabilibus innumeris, cum quibus ipsa sua sortilegia et alia superstitiosa perpetraverat, publice in sua et omnium prsesentia comburi fecit.
Sequente vero die, sedente dicto magistro Waltero custode principali et domino Arnaldo dicto senescallo una cum vicecomite et aliis pro tribunali in aula judiciali pro judiciis reddendis, ac- cessit ad eos episcopus breve regium portans in manibus sigillo regis inclusum, petens cum instantia debita ex parte ecclesiae et domini regis dictaram personarum captionem et incarcerationem, prout in literis regiis continetur. Qui statim, recepto brevi de manu episcopi, praeceperunt vicecomiti quod secundum ejus tenorem demandaretur executioni. Quod tamen non est factum usque in presentem diem. Citavit igitur episcopus dictum vice- «omitem nomine Johannem de Rocheford ad respondendum coram ipso quare mandato ecclesiae sigillo regio vallato noluit obedire. Qui, statim audita citatione, accessit ad episcopum asserens se mandatum vestrum recepisse in publico, sed ejus oppositum a suis superioribus in secreto, et quod de potentioribus et superiori- bus se non intromitteret simpliciter esset sibi interdictum. Ivit igitur episcopus ad saepefatum magistrum Walterum de Isteleppe, thesaurarium et custodem, in domo fratrum minorum Kylkenniae, ubi ipse erat una cum justiciario et cancellario, et eorum cuilibet per literas suas patentes sigillo suo signatas tenorem ut praemis- sum est supra continentes, efficaciter isicut alias supplicavit, ac etiam instanter perseveravit petendo pro captione ac etiam de- tentione secundum sacros canones dictarum personarum pestife- rarum. Cui respondit dictus magister Walterus, quod in hiis
I'OIt SORCERY. 1
- /
qua regis libertati non repugnant libenter juvabunt eoclesiain, sod quia tales captionea et detentiones quarumcunque personarnm, nisi ministri ejus captos per eandem per manucaptores vt\ fide- jussores de carccrc possint liberare, manifeste repugnaref regice libertati ac etiam consuetudini, propter, dixerat, hoc nunquam velle consentire talil)us captionibus et detentionibus. Et super hoc tarn ipse quam etiam s<epefatus cancellarius justieiarium in- formarunt, et a pristino debito favore cor ejus quasi totaliter avcrterunt.
Ivit igitur sacpedictus cancellarius ad domum supradicti YVil- lelmi Outlawe, et ibidem se fecit hospitari, sigillum regium secum habens, et curiam cancellariac region ibidem tenens, non obstante quod alibi in civitate Kilkennia3 hospitium haberet ex consuetu- dine, et ibidem tarn ipse quam thesaurarius sua tenuerunt con- vivia, non sine scandalo tam cleri quam populi, ut omnibus pateret favor quern impendebant. Quod cernens episcopus, per nuncios solennes saepefatum Willelmum citari fecit ad responden- dum coram eo in causa haeresis, et aliis ut praemittitur sibi ob- jectis. Qui veniens ad ecclesiam beatae Mariac virginis, una cum dicto cancellario et thesaurario, clericis et advocatis eorundem in magna multitudine, per allegationes et ora advocatorum nitebatur se tueri. Sed episcopus, expectato adventu justiciarii et aliorum procerum et nobilium terras qui erant in civitate Kilkenniac in magna multitudine, post eorum adventum in praesentia omnium decretalem illam extra de haereticis, Ut inquisitionis, etc. publice legit, ac etiam exposuit in vulgaris una cum poenis et sententiis contra haereticos, fautores, receptatores, et defensores, in sacris ca- nonibus latis et contends, et deinde articulos eidem objectos re- plicavit. Et post longam altercationem inter episcopum et advocatos de articulis omnibus sibi objectis, super receptatione, defensione, et favore haereticorum publice convicit eundem. Quos etiam articulos ore proprio confessus est, et flexis genibus quoad hoc gratiae epis- copi et ecclesiae se submisit : quoad alia qua? fide tangunt diem sibi pracfixit episcopus quod ad quacdam quae negavit duodecima
28 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
manu canonice se purgaret : quoad quaedam ecclesia intendit probare contra ipsum. Et statim coram omnibus episcopus su- pradictum Willelmum, tanquam convictum et confessatum super haereticorum receptatione, defensione, et favore, ac etiam de hae- resi notatum et vehementer suspectum, carceri ad custodiendum judicavit, ac etiam ad detinendum donee negotium fidei in forma ecclesiae esset terminatum, ac etiam de gratia cui se submiserat de maturo consilio foret ordinatum. Ad quod exequendum, episcopus coram toto populo et clero requisivit justiciarium, cancellarium, thesaurarium, qui est custos principalis comitatus Kylkenniae, dominum Arnaldum senescallum, Johannem de Rocheford vice- comitem, ac etiam oranes alios officialese quod et fieri praecepit sine mora, sub pcenis in constitutionibus papalibus et sacris canonibus contends. Quae cernens justiciarius, praecepit statim marescallo curiae regiae quod ipse dictum Willelmum ad carcerem duceret prout extiterat demandatum. Qui statim duxit eum ad carcerem castri Kilkenniae, prout sibi fuerat imperatum.
Venerunt igitur saepefati cancellarius et magister Walterus thesaurarius ad episcopum, attente supplicantes ut de gratia facienda dicto Willelmo super articulis confessatis celeriter ordinaret ante recessum eorundem. Qui, communicato consilio cum peritioribus cleri sui, diem statuit brevem ad hoc faciendum. Quo comparente, licet non secundum demerita, quia tamen gratiae se submiserat, pcenitentiam publicam ei duxit imponendam, sed ad instantiam cancellarii et thesaurarii pro eodem rogavit justiciarius et alii de consilio regis, ad quorum interpellationem cum eisdem sibi injuncta commutavit in sarcinam leviorem, scilicet quod pro articulis confessatis omni die per annum tres missas audiret ad minus, certum etiam numerum pasceret pauperum, et quod can- cellum ecclesiae cathedralis et ecclesiam totam a campanili supra versus orientem ac etiam totam capellam beatae Mariae Virginis in eadem ecclesia suis sumptibus de plumbo perfecte cooperiret, ad memoriam perpetuam, ne quis imposterum contra ecclesiam in causa fidei auderet insurgere, vel haereticis defensionem et favorem
FOR lOBOSRTi 29
pncstaro, publico vcl occultc. Quam gratiam ijralanter coram
omnibus admisit et acceptavit. Verumtamen licet episcopus de- cretalem illam, Ut inquisitionis, etc., ut pnemittitur, coram ipso et populo cxposuissct in vulgari, in qua manifesto patet ipsum multis ct variis sententiis cxcoininunicationum fuisse et esse in- nodatum, beneficium tamen absolutions ab eodem potcre tunc temporis non curavit. Rogaverunt igitur dicti cancellarius et thesaurarius episcopum cum instantia magna ut pendente Causa principal] in negotio fidei usque ad diem sibi praefixum gratiam sibi faceret de carcere, et per fidejussores seu manucaptores libere permitteret ipsum manere, saltern intra muros civitatis. Quibus responditepiscopus quod in toto titulo de haereticis nondum invenit scriptum quod episcopus receptores, fautores, et defensores hoe- reticorum, ac etiam notatos de haeresi et in fide vehementer suspectos, propter signa quamplurima vebementem suspicionem inducentia, libere possit permittere per civitatem evagari, maxime cum constitutio dicat quod tales exponi debent in custodia secura et arcta. Quibus e contrario allegantibus quod sufficiens esset securitas de persona, et quod ipsi manucaperent pro eodem, respondit episcopus : u Omnis favor in hac materia videtur peri- culosus, et ideo licentiare vel concedere aliquid super hoc non intendimus ullo modo ; sed ex quo fecimus quod in nobis est, quantum jura permittunt nos permittimus et non plus, nee vide- mus quod alio modo secundum jura in negotio fidei divites quam pauperes tractari debeant, nisi specialiter hoc divitibus esset con- cessum." Reman sit igitur extra carcerem in civitate et extra vagabundus ad suae beneplacitum voluntatis, usque ad diem sibi praefixum, quo die ecclesia ut praemissum est probanda probaret, et quoad alia duodecima manu canonice se purgaret.
Venerunt igitur interim ad episcopum amici sui diversi, singil- latim pecuniam permaximam episcopo offerentes et multo majorem promittentes, ut episcopus in negotio isto amicum se ostendat, et quantum poterit favorabilis sit et gratiosus. Quibus respondit episcopus, quod pro tanta summa florenorum auri quae posset in
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ecclesia cathedrali usque ad summum cumulari, pecuniam in causa fidei non reciperet, publice vel occulte. Cum igitur ipse esset frequenter et multipliciter ad hoc pulsatus ab amicis ejusdem, ipsi tamen ab eodem aliud in responsis non reportabant. Inter- medio igitur tempore intellexit episcopus ex multorum relatu et fama communi, quod saepefatus Willelmus poenitentiam sibi in- junctam non faceret, nee ad faciendum se pararet, et quod personis in fidei suspectis ac etiam heereticis incarceratis et testibus contra ipsum necessariis nuntios continue mitteret et frequenter eos exenniaret ; insuper quod quosdam per breve regium in causa fidei capiendos in domo sua ne caperentur occultaret. Quibus in- tellectisj statim episcopus misit literas suas patentes thesaurario Hyberniee et custodi principali comitatus Kilkenniae eidem sup- plicandOj ac etiam eum monendo sub pcenis omnibus in sacris canonibus super hoc contentis, quod ipse per literas suas patentes sigillo suo signatas compelleret omnes officiales suos tarn majores quam minores ad praestandum juramentum episcopo ad observan- dum statuta et constitutiones in sacris canonibus contentas contra haereticoSj credentes, receptatores, fautores, et defensores. Quas literas sub testimonio notariorum et multorum aliorum sibi prae- sentari fecit per nuntios speciales. Quibus visis et intellectis, communicato consilio jurisperitorum apud Dubliniam, literas patentes prout episcopus petiverat compulsorias eidem remisit indilate. Quibus receptis, statim citavit episcopus omnes offi- ciales curiae secularis totius Ossoriae, et juramenta secundum instituta sacrorum canonum petivit et recepit ab eisdem, domino Arnaldo excepto, a quo juramentum non petivit quia sibi alias denegavit.
Quibus omnibus juratis, die ilia qua dictus Willelmus com- parere debuit, lectis et expositis super hoc constitutionibus in vulgaris dictum Willelmum ad judicium solenniter fecit evocari. Quo comparente cum praefato concellario strepituque et multi- tudine advocatorum, post aliqualem propositionem verbi Dei^ monitionem quandam episcopus legit in scripturis ne quis eum
rOB sorckky. .5 1
advocatua sen alius in negotio fidei impediret directe vcl tndirecte sub poena ezcommnnicationia majoria, quam in Kcriptia tulii. Deinde capitula super contemptu clavium eocleaiaa de poenitentia
non facta objecit cidem WillelmOj et super rclapsu quoad articulos confessatos. Scd advocatis c contrario allegantibus quod pro- cedendum primo cssct juxta retroacta, respondit episcopus : " Utique rationabiliter peteretis, si in eodem statu esset causa ubi fuit dimissa ; verum quia nunc agitur de relapsu, ct quoad inulta apparent novi testes, qui prius non apparebant, et ecclesia ]>lures lial)ere credit, non videtur nobis quod statim sit admit- tenda purgatio, sed in tarn arduo negotio amplius deliberandum." Tandem post longam altercationem inter episcopum et advocatos, diem petiverunt prolixum ad deliberandum et respondendum quoad praemissa, proximum scilicet diem juridicum post festum Sancti Hillarii. Quod audiens episcopus gratanter concessit, silentium extunc in causa haeresis imponens advocatis sub poe- nis in jure contends. Et quia pendente negotio fidei ecclesia secura debet esse de persona, statim ministris omnibus juratis pnecepit in virtute juramenti praestiti quod caperent corpus dicti Willelmi sine mora, et ducerent ad carcerem castri Kilkenniac, ibidem salvo custodiendum donee negotium fidei secundum judi- cium ecclesiae foret terminatum. Qui, disposita domo sua, eadem nocte incarceratus est, et in compedibus ferreis vinculatus, ad cujus custodiam fideliter faciendam jurati sunt custodes carceris una cum duobus sacerdotibus ad hoc per episcopum deputatis et juratis secundum formam constitutionis novellas, Ex multorum querelis, cujus copiam de verbo ad verbum tradi fecit episcopus custodibus sub sigillo suo. Haec videns cancellarius, coram populo se excusavit quod in favorem ejus ad locum ilium non venerat, et quod in hseresi contra ecclesiam ipsum fovere non in- tendebat.
Hac eadem die combusta fuit Petronilla de Midia haeretica, una de sodalibus dictae dominae Aliciae, quae postquam fuit sex vicibus per episcopum pro suis sortilegiis fustigata, demum de-
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prehensa quod esset ha?retica publice coram toto clero et populo fatebatur se, ad informationem dicta? domina? Alicia?, fidem Christi et ecclesia? totaliter abnegasse, et tribus vicibus ex parte ejusdem chemonibus sacrificasse, quarum qualibet vice tres optulit gallos in quadruviis extra civitatem cuidam da?moni qui Robertum filium Artis se facit appellari, ex pauperioribus inferni, sanguinem ef- fundendo et dividendo membratim, de quorum intestinis, cum araneis et aliis vermibus nigris ad modum scorpionum, cum quadam berba quae dicitur millefolium, et aliis herbis et vermibus detestabilibus, una cum cerebro et pannis pueri decedentis sine baptismo, in testa capitis cujusdam latronis decollati, ad in- formationem dicta? Alicia?, multas fecit confectiones, pixides, et pulveres, ad affligendum corpora rldelium et amores et odia con- citandum, et ut facies quarundam mulierum cum quibusdam incantationibus adjectis apparerent cornuta? apud certas personas velut capra?. Fatebatur etiam pluries se ad stimulationem ejus- dem Alicia?, et aliquando in sua pra?sentia, da?mones consuluisse, et recepisse responsa, et ex pacto convenisse cum eadem ut sit mediatrix inter ipsam et dictum da?monem Robertum amicum ejus. Fatebatur etiam publice quod oculis suis vidit ubi pra?dictus da?mon tertius, in specie trium a?thiopum tres virgas ferreas in manibus portantium, eidem domina? de die apparuit, et, ipsa vidente, earn carnaliter cognovit, et post tantum scelus locum turpitudinis cum kanevacio lecti sui manu propria tersit. Dixitque inter ca?tera quod ipsa cum dicta domina sententiam excommunicationis frequenter tulerat in maritum proprium, cum candelis de cera accensis et sputionibus variis, prout eorum ritus requirebat. Et licet in arte earum maledicta solennis esset magistra, dixit se tamen nihil esse in comparatione ad dominam suam, a qua omnia ista didicerat et multa alia, quin potius in toto dominio regis Anglia? non esset ipsa peritior, nee in arte sua in mundo reputabat sibi parem. Ha?c cum sibi esset oblatum sacramentum pceni- tentia?, simpliciter coram toto populo recusavit, sed publice sua detegens facinora detestabilia, combusta est coram infinita populi
FOR B0RCBR1 . SI
multitudine cum debits solennitate* Et base c:st prima wrtili hnretica inter tot et tantaa quee unquam combusts Fuit in Hybemia,
Septima igitur die ab incarceratione saspefati Willelmi, misit ipse adepiscopum pctens ut dignaretur episcopua eum in loco ear- ceris personaliter visitare. Quo cum pervenisset, dictus Willelmua depositia veatibus coram episcopo et magna clcri et populi mul- titudine in luto seminudus Be proaternenfl dixit: u Pater mi et douiiuc, personam veatram et psternitatem recognosco me mul- tipliciter offendiase, et contra vos errasse, propter quod ob Dei misericordiam ])laceat vobis mei misereri^ quia paratus sum gratia) vestrac me committere et vobis satisfacere pro oftensa." Cui re- spondit episcopus : u Fili, duas sancta mater ecclesia habet contra te causas, quarum una immediate tangit personam Dei qui est dominus omnium, alia tangit personam episcopi, qui sumus caput istius ecclesioe (licet immerito) et pater tuus spiritualis. De prima oftensa tu nihil loqueris : quomodo ergo possemus nos, qui sumus servus inutilis, satisfactionem pro oftensa personali nostra recipere, stante oftensa domini et Dei summi? Esset utique ordo iste retrogradus et male commutatus : satisfac primum de oftensa Dei in causa fldei, et postmodum quoad offensam nostram per- sonalem non judicem sed patrem invenies satis misericordem et graciosum. Spectaculum se dedit Dominus mundo, angelis, et hominibus : nam in multitudine divitiarum tuarum, potentia ami- corum, et prudentia sensus et consilii tur, in tantam superbiam es elatuSj ut claves ecclesise, jurisdictionem, et jura contempneres, hsereticos fovens^ innocentes opprimens^ et noxios dimittens^ et ecce dedit te Deus et consilium tuum in reprobum sensum : tradidit te in manus illorum qui divitias tuas contempnunt, et potentiam tuam et tuorum in causa fidei non timent. In hoc mirum est qua fronte misericordiam petis, ex quo in tanta potentia et tot officiis majoribus tociens constitutus eras> et non est in- ventus sub tua jurisdictione qui unquam in conspectu tuo miseri- cordiam seu gratiam potuit invenire. Tot oppressisti innocentes,
CAMD. SOC. F
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clericos et laicos in carcerem et compedes detrudendo, et ecce opprimit te Deus, et tu ipse in carcere et compedibus es detrusus, nee est inventus in tanta populi et cleri multitudine, quantum nos perpendere possumus, quin tuam affectet totalem dejectionem. Admodum Luciferi de alto cecidisti : sed Deus tibi concessit tempus pcenitendi : humiliare coram ipso, misericordiam suam instanter implorando et gratiam, ut tui dignetur misereri." Cui ille re- spondit : " Domine," inquit, u episcope, si placet, da mihi bene- ficium absolutionis a sententia excommunicationis." Cui epis- copus : u Duo," inquit, u sunt excommunicationum genera, unum pro contumacia et aliud pro offensa : tu pro offensa ridei, haereticos receptando, fovendo, et defensando, in causa haeresis, tuis exigen- tibus demeritis, judicialiter,diffinitive,et sententialiter pronunciatus es excommunicatus, a qua sententia absolvi te non permittunt jura, donee satisfeceris ecclesiae de tanta offensa, vel de satis- faciendo sufficientem praestiteris cautionem." Cui ille : " Vel per me, vel per adjutorium amicorum, cito providebitur de sufficienti cautione."
Misit igitur praedictus Willelmus pro cancellario, quod ad ipsum veniret festinanter super dicta cautione tractaturus. Ante cujus adventum, insonuit rumor per totam civitatem Kylkenniae quod cancellarius regis esset venturus, ut auctoritate regia liberaret in- carceratum. Quod dum episcopo innotuit, assumpto decano et majoribus capituli sui et peritioribus cleri sui, una cum majoribus civitatis, accessit ad cancellarium, et ipsum coram omnibus al- locutus est in hunc modum : Ci Domine," inquit, u cancellarie, et vos et nos Deo et sanctae matri ecclesiae jurati sumus, et domino nostro regi Angliae similiter, unde ex parte nostra et totius cleri nostri venimus ad vos ad denunciandum vobis, qui de concilio regis post justiciarium estis principalis, pericula quaedam et scandala utrique curiae imminentia, nisi praecaveantur. Quorum primum est, cum in praesentia domini justiciarii et vestra ac consilii regii Alicia Kyteler, lectis coram vobis articulis quampluribus haeresim sapientibus et attestationibus similiter publicatis, de
ion SORCERY.
unanimi consensu cleri nostri hesretica faissel pronunciata ei re- lapsa,et bona confiscata, et quantum ei parte ecclesisa est curia tradita seculari pro suis demeritis punicnda, hoc etiam per literal nostras patentes sigillo nostro signatas justiciario et vobis esset
patefactum, ut de ea fieret quod jura dictant: vos nihilominus, ad quern pcrtinet et sine quo fieri non posset, precsertim cum ei tunc justiciario in remotis agente vos locum ejus tenueritis una cum officio cancellarue, dictam hacreticam usque in pnesens libcre permisistis evagari, etiam juxta vos, in tantum ut propter scan- dalom vicarius domini arcliiepiscopi Dublinensis processus jam faciat contra receptatores et fautores ejusdem, unde ecclesia non modicum admiratur quod per vos de remedio opportuno non pro- videtur. Secundum est, cum vos sitis religiosus, signum crucis gestans in habitu, ut ob amorem crucifixi preelia domini debeatis praeliari, nos ex quo causa Christi et fidei fuit inchoata tarn contra matrem heereticam quam etiam contra filium in fide suspectum de vobis aut officio vestro nunquam in hujusmodi causa potuimus invenire gratiam seu favorem, quin potius, cum in civitate KilkennicE hospitium alibi habeatis pulchrum et honestum, vos tamen nihilominus ex tunc et non ante in domo ilia hsereticali, spelunca scilicet hsereticorum, quae latrina reputatur ecclesice, vos hospitari fecistis, et ibidem cancellariam domini nostri regis principis tarn catholici tenuistis, in scandalum fidei et vituperium non modicum domini nostri regis. Tertium est, cum comitatus iste sit in praesenti sine medio in manu domini regis, et jura velint canonica quod ad requisitionem episcopi ministri dominorum temporalium jurare debeant, tactis sacro- sanctis, ad observandum et ad faciendum a suis subditis observari constitutions et statuta apostolica contra hsereticos, credentes, fautores, receptatores, et eorum defensores, nos a vobis, tanquam a ministro reipublicae in hiis partibus, juramentum illud petimus ac etiam de jurando requirimus et monemus primo, secundo, et tertio, coram toto isto clero et populo, canonice sub poenis contends in eisdem. Quartum est, quia tarn per clericos vestros quam
36 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
etiam alios familiares vestros in negotio fidei multa sunt dicta, facta, et allegata, quae secundum nonnullorum judicium in im- pedimentum negotii videntur redundare, nos istius loci diocesa- nus, licet immeriti, coram toto isto populo auctoritate Dei omnipotentis ac domini nostri papae et sanctae matris ecclesiae vobis districte inhibemus, ne per vos aut vestros aliquid dicatis seu faciatis directe vel indirecte quod in impedimentum negotii inquisitionis contra haereticam pravitatem possit redundare. Quod si contra feceritis, denunciamus vobis quod nos domino nostro papas Christi vicario factum signincabimus, qui claves beati Petri et sanctse Romanae ecclesiae super caput vestrum sic agitabit et sonabit, quod non solum per Angliam et Hyberniam sed ab Hybernia usque ad mare Graecum sonitus audietur. Scire etiam vos volumus, et per vos regales omnes, quod non latet nos quod ration e temporalium et baroniae quam tenet ecclesia mul- tipliciter nos scitis et potestis molestare et gravare. verumtamen pro certo habeatis quod licet temporalia auferretis et baroniam inter vos divideretis, in hiis tamen quae sunt ad conversationem fidei et libertatis ecclesiasticae iota unum aut unus apex non praeteribit a lege, secundum gratiam nobis coelitus concessam et nostram possibilitatem. Et ne requisitiones istae seu monitiones de capite nostro proprio videantur emanare, vobis coram toto isto clero et populo constitutiones et epistolas decretales legi faciemus in praesenti." Quibus lectis per quendam jurisperitum, expositis per episcopum publice et auditis, dictus cancellarius prorumpens in lacrimas dixit : i£ Si in aliquo erratum est, non ex intentione vel malitia sed potius ex ignorantia processit error." Quoad juramentum vero praestandum, dilationem petivit donee cum aliis de consilio regis sibi super hoc consultum esset.
Eadem igitur die venit dictus cancellarius ad episcopum, trac- taturus super completione poenitentiee impositae praefato YVillelmo ; sed episcopus remittens eundem ad decanum et capitulum, finaliter conventum est inter eos quod dictus cancellarius pro praefato AVillelmo totam ecclesiam cathedralem a campanili desuper versus
i ok BORCBRY. 87
orientem cum capella beats Virginia perfecte de plumbo cooperiet, cum omnibua auia adrnirnculia, infra quatuoi annoa proximo sequentes. Et ad faciendam securitatem, invenit dc duabua
ecclesiis in Ossoria, scilicet Balygaveran ct (jiavihnoy, cum aoia (,aj)cllis pro decano et capitulo, com instrumentis aigillatia si^illis
])rioris ct communitatis liospitalis totius Ilybcrnia1, quaa ipsi tcnent in proprios usus, sub tali pacto quod nisi infra quatuor annoa prior opus perfecte compleverit, rcmanebunt diets ecclcsia; cum earum fructibus decano et capitulo per decern annoa pro quingentis marcis, quae tamen ad verum valorem, ut creditur, valere possunt mille marcas. Habita igitur super hoc sufficient i securitate, accessit episcopus ad locum carceris, et a sententia excommunicationis quam incurrerat incarceratus propter defen- sionem, receptationem, et favorem hacretioorum, absolvit eundeni, ipso nihilominus in carcere ecclesiae et compedibus semper re- manente donee principale negotium fidei foret terminatum.
Appropinquante igitur tempore purgationis dicti Willelmi, ne propter defectum mutui colloquii cum amicis suis de non purgando se possit excusare, misit ad eum episcopus per literas suas patentes ac etiam per manus duorum canonicorum ecclesie cathedralis, quod ipse personas tot et quales ipse vellet de tota Ossoria ad purgandum idoneas eidem nominaret, et ipse liberam licentiam concederet eidem ad tractandum et colloquendum cum eisdem super sua purgatione facienda, juxta formam tamen constitutionis apostolicae praelibatae. Qui post tractatus et colloquia multa habita cum eisdem per se et suos nuncios speciales, perpendens quod in purgatione deficeret, eo quod sufficientes et idoneos non posset invenire compurgators, attendens etiam quod ecclesia quoad multa et gravia contra eum sufficientes haberet probationes, die purgationis suae adveniente et probationis ex parte ecclesia?, episcopo sedente pro tribunali, astante sibi cleri et populi maxima multitudine, ipso in judicium de carcere evocato, objiciente igitur episcopo ut prius, et continuando processum juxta retroacta, ipse statim coram omnibus respondit : " Domine," inquit, " episcope,
38 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER
pater mi et domine, postquam artnos attigi discretionis, in ista diocesi in officiis variis et majoribus ego fui, multas etiam terras et possessiones mediantibus meis laboribus et diligentiis adquisivi, variis etiam gestibus meis et negligentiis fateor quod inordinate me habui, propter quae et eorum quodlibet, ad offensas multas et graves ut timeo vicinos meos provocavi. De vestra igitur et ecclesiae benignitate et misericordia confidens, quae mihi et cuilibet peccatori debet esse certa, vota derelinquens vicinorum quae mihi sunt incerta, gratiae et misericordiae vestrae et ecclesioe me com- mitto in omnibus et quoad omnia quae mihi per vos ex parte ecclesiae sunt objecta, et ad unionem et gremium ecclesiae peto me admitti de vestra gratia speciali." Cui e contrario objecit episcopus : ei Non viam gratiae sed justitiae elegisti, ut de objectis canonice te purgares : justitiam elegisti, et justitia net tibi V Cui ille respondit : " De misericordia et gratia ecclesiae totaliter con- fidens, misericordiam eligo, et gratiae ecclesiae et vestrae me to- taliter committo/' Cui episcopus : " Sancta mater ecclesia nulli claudit gremium poenitenti: verumtamen ex quo viam justitiae deserens gratiam elegisti, de consilio capituli et cleri nostri deli- berare volumus, si pensatis praecedentibus te ad gratiam admittere debeamus."
Convocato igitur statim decano et capitulo, ac etiam majoribus cleri sui exemptis et non exemptis, consilium petivit ab eisdem si ad gratiam ecclesiae admitti posset et deberet. Quibus omnibus finaliter concordantibus quod sic, episcopus in publico coram omnibus ipsum in causa fidei vehementer suspectum atque dif- famatum in purgatione canonica super hiis sibi indicta pronun- ciavit defecisse, et nihilominus eundem poenitentem ad gratiam et unitatem ecclesiae admisit, quatenus canonica dictaverint instituta. Et super gratia facienda ac etiam modo et quantitate ejusdem sibi videbatur magis deliberandum ; et ad hoc diem statuit alium, ut interim super hoc cum clero suo plenius deliberaret, decernens ipsum a compedibus ferreis absolutum in carcere ecclesiae fore custodiendum, donee negotium fidei foret terminatum. Convo-
KOR SORCERY. 3'.)
catis igitur omnibus pcritioribus totius clcri, tain exempt is quam non cxcniptis, deliberate consilio, dc common] consensu taxata
fuit gratia in hunc modum qui scquitur. Ipso ad judicium evocato coram clcri ct populi quasi infinita multitudine, post propositioncm verbi Dei continuavit episcopus ct replicant pro- cessus et objecta juxta retroacta. Postque, quia in causa fidei vehementer habebatur suspectus, et super purgatione sibi indicta defecit ex toto, prscsertim cum ecclesia cactera sibi objecta parata fuisset ad probandum, presumptive hal)el)atur pro convicto, et ideo omnem solenniter abjuravit lueresim ac etiam sortilegia, opera, societatem, favorem, et defensionem eorundem, super sancta Dei quatuor evangelia, manu propria subscribens et sigillo proprio signans abjurationem. Quam etiam flexis genibus manibus tradidit episcopo coram omnibus. Cui idem episcopus seriem abjurationis exposuit in vulgari coram omnibus, et pericula in sacris canonibus contenta eandem concernentia in futurum. Post haec juravit tactis sacrosanctis coram omnibus de stando mandatis ecclesiae in omnibus et per omnia, et sic beneficium recepit ab- solutions. Deinde in pcenitentiam fuit sibi injunctum, una cum prsecedentibus, quod in proximo passagio suis sumptibus adiret terram sanctam. Et si contingeret eum senectute vel debilitate aut etiam infirmitate impediri, quantum ipse expenderet eundo et redeundo tantum ipse, filii, heeredes et executores, sunt et erunt obligati ad dimittendum pro dispositione diocesani, decani, et capituli, in aliquos pios usus convertendum. Insuper quia tem- pore ventilationis istius causae fidei, occasione ipsius et per ipsum, ut ab omnibus creditur, Ossoria tota per magnum tempus eccle- siastico supposita fuerat interdicto, injunctum fuit sibi quod in recompensationem tot et tantarum missarum ipse sumptibus pro- priis unum invenerit perpetuum sacerdotem ad celebrandum divina in ecclesia beatae Marias in eadem civitate, coram imagine ejusdem quam episcopus fieri facit et depingi. Caeterum quia contra ecclesiam insurrexit in causa fidei, quae est causa martyrii, in qua episcopum est persecutus in tantum ut morti se constanter
40 PROCEEDINGS AGAINST DAME ALICE KYTELER.
opponeret, pro eadem injunctum erat sibi quod citius quo posset limina visitaret beati Thomae Martyris, et ibidem publice suum fateatur reatum. Omni etiam feria tertia a carnibus abstineret, donee suam complement peregrinationem. Publice etiam coram omnibus juramento se astrinxit, quod si contingat ipsum in- posterum, publice vel occulte, verbo vel opere, contra ecclesiam, episcopum, vel aliquem de suis, insurgere, quod ipse, haeredes sui et executores, obligati sint episcopo et successoribus suis in mille libris sterlingorum, solvendis et levandis pro episcopi voluntate. Quas quidem poenitentias gratanter et gaudenter coram omnibus ad- misit, et sic sub spe emendationis vitae suae a careere ecclesiae gratiose extitit liberatus.
De caeteris autem haereticis ac etiam sortilegis memoratae societatis pestiferae praedicti Robini filii Artis, observato juris ordine, quidam ex eis publice sunt combusti, alii publice coram toto populo sua detegentes facinora in veste superiori post ab- juratam haeresim ante et retro ut moris est sunt cruce signati, alii per civitatem et mercatum solenniter fustigati, alii extra civitatem et diocesim exulati, alii jurisdictionem ecclesiae subter- fugientes publice sunt excommunicato alii prae timore fugientes et latitantes nondum sunt inventi. Et sic nidus ille turpissimus auctoritate sanctae matris ecclesiae, auxiliante Domino, de sua gratia speciali dissipatus est et destructus, et utique vere dici potest, quod de gratia Dei speciali. Nam in tarn ardua causa et inter tot adversa et contra tot adversarios tarn potentes, contra etiam tot et tantos advocatos jurisperitiores, quos Deus in medio legum suarum excaecavit, licet multi fuerint amici in secreto, imo quasi omnes episcopum ad constantiam animantes, non est tamen de tota Hybernia inventa persona una quae publice vellet et auderet se opponere, sola persona episcopi excepta, qui mortem in causa fidei quam affectavit et satis diligenter quaesivit nondum invenit.
NOTE S.
P. 1. Ilujits papa* — John XXII. occupied the papal see from 1316 to 1334. lit1 was the author of* some of the earliest formal deerees against witchcraft. The following will perhaps not he thought misplaced here j I give it from Biusfeld, Confessio Maleficorum, p. 612.
Extravagans Johannis XXII. contra magos magicasc/ue supersti* tiones.
Super illius specula, quamvis immeriti, ejus favente dementia, qui pri- mum homiuem humani quidem generis protoplasti, terrenis praelatum, divinis virtutibus adornatum, conformem et consimilem imagini suae fecit, revocavit profugum legem dando, ac demum libcravit captivum, reinvenit perditum et redemit venditum merito sua? passionis, ut contcmplaremur ex ilia super filios hominum, qui Christianas religionis cultu Deum intelligunt et requirunt, dolenter advertimus, quod etiam cum nostrorum turbatione viscerum cogitamus, quamplures esse solo nomine Christianos qui, relicto primo veritatis lumine, tanta erroris caligine obnubilantur, quod cum morte fcedus ineunt et pactum faciunt cum inferno : daemonibus namque immo- lant : hos adorant, fabricant ac fabricari procurant imagines, annulum, vel speculum, vel phialam, vel rem quamcunque aliam magice ad daemones inibi alligandos, ab his petunt, responsa ab his recipiunt, et pro implendis pravis suis desideriis auxilia postulant, pro re fcetidissima fcetidam ex- hibent servitutem, (proh dolor!) hujusmodi morbus pestifer, nunc per nuindum solido amplius convalescens, successive gravius inficit Christi gregem. Cum igitur ex debito suscepti pastoralis officii oves oberrantes per devia teneamur ad caulas Christi reducere, et excluderc a grege domi- nico morbidas ne alias corrumpant, hoc edicto in perpctuum valituro, de consilio fratrum nostrorum, monemus omnes et singulos renatos fonte baptismatis, in virtutc sanctae obedientia?, et sub mternrinatione anathematis praecipientes eisdem, quod nullus ipsorum aliquid de pcrversis dictis dogma- tibus docere ac addiscere audeat, vel, quod execrabilius est, quomodolibet alio in aliquo illis uti. Et quia dignum est, quod hi, qui per sua opera perversa spernunt altissimum, pcenis suis pro culpis debitis percellantur : nos in omnes et singulos, qui contra nostra saluberrima monita et mandata facere de praedictis quicquam praesumpserint, excommunicationis sententiam
CAMD. SOC, G
42 NOTES.
promulgamus, quam ipsos incurrere volumus ipso facto : statuentes firmiter, quod praeter pcenas praedictas, contra tales, qui admoniti de praedictis, seu praedictorum aliquo, infra octo dies a munitione computandos praefata, a praefatis non se correxerint, ad infligendas pcenas omnes et singulas, praeter bonorum confiscationem dumtaxat, quas de jure merentur haeretici, per suos competentes judices procedatur. Verum cum sit expediens, quod ad haec tarn nefanda omnis via omnisque occasio praecludantur, de dictorum nostrorum f rat rum consilio universis praecipimus et mandamus, quod nullus eorum libellos, scripturas quascunque de praefatis damnatis erroribus quic- quam continentes, habere, aut tenere, vel in ipsis studere praesumat ; quin potius volumus, et in virtute sanctae obedientiae cunctis praecipimus, quod quicunque de scriptoria praefatis vel libellis quicquam habuerint infra octo dierum spatium ab hujusmodi edicti nostri notitia computandum, totum et in toto et in qualibet sui parte abolere et comburere teneantur : alioquin volumus, quod incurrant sententiam excommunicationis ipso facto, pro- cessuri contra contcmptores hujusmodi (cum constiterit) ad pcenas alias graviores. Datum Avinione.
lb. Ricardo episcopo Ossoriensi. — The following is Sir James Ware's account of Richard de Leddrede, bishop of Ossory, who acts such a prominent part in the present history.
Richard Ledred, a Franciscan frier of London, was by mandate* from the Pope, John the XXII. consecrated at Avignon, in 1318 [by Nicholas, Bishop of Ostium, being advanced the year before by the same Pope. In 1320 he held a synod of his clergy ; the canons of which are extant in the Red Book of Ossory, and are lately published by Dr. Wilkins in Concil. torn. ii]. In the " Annals of Ireland," published by Camden, f one meets with an account of the troubles raised against him by Arnold Poer, Seneschal of Kilkenny, and of those retorted back on the seneschal by him [which deserve a fuller relation than what we meet with in the said annals ; as it discovers the temper and spirit of this prelate. In 1325 J the Lady Alice Kettle, William Outlaw her son, and Petronil and Basil her accomplices, were accused of witchcraft and enchantments in the spiritual court of Ossory. Petronil was convicted and burned ; the lady and Basil fled, and William Outlaw was held nine weeks in strict durance, and then at the suit of the said Arnold Poer to the higher powers was delivered. But John Clyn,* who was a frier at that time in Kilkenny, and must be sup- posed to know the fact, placeth it in 1324, and says that the Lady Alice differed death for heresy; and observes that she was the first that ever was known to suffer for that crime in Ireland. Be that as it will, it created
* Regi<t. Pont, in Wad. Ann. torn. iii. p. 63.
f Ad ann. 13*5, and 1328. % Holinsb. p. 69.
§ Clyn's Annals ad ann. 1324.
MM! . 48
ill blood between the bishop and Poer. The bishop accused him of hen
had him excommunicated,* and by virtue of I writ of BxcoWMMmicaJO
(•((picmlo. Rounded on Ins certificate, he was committed prisoner to the castle of Dublin ; but was by most people thought to be innocent ; insomuch
that Roger Outlawe, Prior of Kilmainhaiii, who in 1888 was constituted
Justice of Ireland. >he\\ed liini some countenance, and treated him with
humanity. The bishop was enraged at this procedure, and openly accused tike justice of heresy, and for abetting Poer, and aiding him with hi^ adVicc
and counsel. The justice petitioned the Privy Council for have to pm himself of this charge; and they ordered public proclamation to be made for three days ; that if any person had a mind to prosecute the said justice, they should have protection with freedom and safety to do it. But, no body appearing, the King's writ was issued at the request of die justice, to assemble the peers, bishops, abbots, prion, the mayors of the four cili viz. Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford, as also the sheriffs, and seneschals, the knights of shires, and the principal freemen of the city of Dublin. When this parliament met the justice made it appear,! thai the bishop's proceedings against Poer were partial and unjust in favour of a kinsman of the bishop, who began the quarrel with Poer ; and that there- fore the lord chief-justice only supported the cause of the oppressed. The parliament appointed a committee^ of six to examine the charge. These were William Rodyeard dean of St. Patrick's Dublin, the abbats of St. Thomas and St. Mary's, the prior of Christ Church, Mr. Elias Lawless, and Mr. Peter Wllleby. They examined such witnesses as were summoned apart ; and every one of them made oath, that the justice was orthodox, a zealous champion of the faith, and ready to defend it with his life. Upon this report of the Committee he was solemnly acquitted, and prepared a sumptuous banquet for all his defenders. But the unfortunate Poer died the same year, 1331,§ under his confinement, before the math r was fully adjusted ; and his carcass was a long time kept unburied, because he died unassoiled. However our bishop did not escape his share of troubles, which lay on him heavily for many years ; and this accuser of heresy was obliged to fly his country for the same crime. For he was in his turn accused of heresy by his metropolitan, Alexander Bicknor, arch* bishop of Dublin, and was driven to shelter himself under an appeal to the apostolic see. I cannot fix the particular time when this happened ; but believe it was in the year 1329. For on the eighth || of June that year King Edward III. wrote to the Pope and many of the cardinal^, warning them to take heed how they gave ear to the suggestions of Bishop Ledred ; for that he had privately fled his country? when he ought to have stood his trial for his demerits ; and in 1331 ^ he wrote on the same occasion to the
* King's Collect. M.S. p. 23. f Cox, i. v. p. 208. J Collect, ut supra.
§ Cox, ibid. || Rym. torn. iv. p. 393. ^ lDid- P» *73,
44 NOTES.
Pope, and informed him that the bishop had declined an inquiry into his conduct : because he was conscious of his guilt. Upon his flight in 1329 the King seised his temporalities ; but upon the mediation and earnest inter- cession of one of the cardinals, a writ* issued for his restitution in the tenth of May, 1331 ; on condition, nevertheless, that the bishop should submit himself in person to the King, and answer at home any charge objected to him. How long- he staved abroad, or when he returned, I have not found : but it appears that in 1339 he had made some sort of a peace with the King. For there issued a writ dated that yearf to Sir Thomas Charlton, Bishop of Hereford, then Justice and Chancellor of Ireland, reciting, that upon the information of Alexander archbishop of Dublin, by letters patent made in the Chancery of Ireland, Richard bishop of Ossory, was ve- hemently suspected notoriously to favour heresy, and had been cited to appear before the said archbishop to answer ; but that he had contumaciously absented himself : upon which several of the sheriffs and others the King's ministers had been commanded to arrest him without delay, and to deliver him to the archbishop to be canonical ly punished, notwithstanding his episcopal dignity. The King therefore revoked and superseded the said orders, in regard the same had been surreptitiously and erroneously ob- tained out of the Chancery ; for that it was not lawful according to the canons to arrest a prelate ; the rather as the bishop had directly appealed to the apostolic see from the grievances laid on him by the archbishop, and had diligently prosecuted his appeal, as appeared by public instruments and other evidences exhibited before the council of England.
Afterwards, in \ 1347, or 1348, having lived nine years in banishment, M he obtained (says Clyn§) an exemption in the court of Rome from the jurisdiction and superiority of the Archbishop of Dublin." But I think he had no great advantage by it. [This exemption was grounded upon his complaint to the Pope of the hard usage he had met with from the arch- bishop, wherein it is alledged, that he had been seized by the hereticks, and kept seventeen days in prison, and that when he was released, the archbishop, who was notoriously known to favour the hereticks, had stopped up all the ports to hinder him from repairing to Rome, to appeal from his grievances, and used all his endeavours to take him prisoner. But after the death of Archbishop Bicknor, and the promotion of John de St. Paul to the see of Dublin, Pope Clement VI. on the 21st of July, 1351, upon the petition of the new archbishop issued a Bull || for the restoration of the see of Dublin to the jurisdiction and superiority which the arch- bishops had formerly held over the see of Oasory]. In 1349 his tem-
* Ibid. p. 488.
T Iiym. torn. v. p. 112. Wilk. Concil. torn. ii. p. 652.
X Annal. Min. torn. iii. ad An. 1 J-J/. Clyn ad. eund. an. § Ibid,
|| Regist. Pontif. in Wad. An. torn. iv. p, 10".
NOTES. I)
poralities were again confiscated) or, to speak in i law phrase, seized into the King's hands,* because he had unjusth excommunicated [William Bromley J, Treasurer of Ireland, [who was hastning in the King's debti in the town of Kilkenny ; by which means tin* King's affairs were obstructed |, and had also given abusive language to the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Bitting in court [by telling him, he was a false traytor, and had
given false counsel tO the lord justice. For which, and lor many Other seditions practices lie had been indicted, and by false suggestions had ob- tained the King's pardon. But on the 20th of March, L351,j< the King revoked and made void his pardon: because he had been BubtHy circum- vented and deceived in granting it. Yet these proceedings did not humble this prelate. For] a little after one Thomas Fit/ Gilbert (as appears in the public records) plundered and set fire to the castle of Moycobir, and slew Hugh le Poer in it. Ledred was brought to trial as an accomplice in the fact ; and I do not find that ho in any other manner purged himself than by pleading- the King's pardon. The King afterwards [as before] declared this pardon void, as being obtained surreptitiously and by fraud. [I am apt to think that this and the pardon before-mentioned, and the revocation of it, were one and the same. For that was a pardon for all homicides, thefts, robberies, conspiracies, &c. which he had no occasion for, if it were only to screen him from the contempts to the treasurer and justice. But the facts are so blended together, that it is hard to separate them.] However, about the close of the year 1354 he was received into favour ; the storm blew over, and he passed the remainder of his life in great tranquillity. Of his beautifying the cathedral, see before p. 399. He obtained the King's leave for demolishing three churches without the walls, and employed the stones in building an episcopal palace near the cathedral, [at his own expense, in which he erected}; an altar, dedicated to the three saints, whose churches he had demolished ; and obliged the collegiate vicars to celebrate service there, whenever the bishop should require them ; whom he also endowed with an orchard]. He died in a very advanced age in the year 1360 [having sat about forty-two years in this see], and was buried in his own church, on the Gospel side of the high altar.
P. 1. Diversis utentes sortilegiis. — In Holinshed's Chronicle of Ireland, p. 69, we have the following account of these arts of sorcery, containing particulars not mentioned in our text.
1323. In the eighteenth yere of King Edward II. his reigne, the Lord John Darcie came into Ireland, and to be lord justice, and the Kings lieute- nant there.
* King's Collect, p. 107. f Collect. Ibid, Rot. 2.5 Ed. 3.
t Collect. M.S. D. 42.
46 NOTES.
The Ladie In these daies lived in the diocesse of Ossorie the Lady Alice Kettle Alice Kettle, whom the bishop asscited to purge herselfe of
accused of ^c fame 0f inchantment and witchcraft imposed unto hir and to one Petronill and Basill hir complices. She was charged to have nightlie conference with a spirit called Robert Artisson, to whome she sacrificed in the high waie nine red cocks and nine peacocks eies. Also that she swept the streets of Kilkennie betweene compleine and twilight, raking all the filth towards the doores of hir sonne William Outlawe, murmuring secretlie with hir selfe these words : " To the house of William my sonne, Hie all the wealth of Kilkennie towne. At the first conviction they abjured and did penance, but shortlie after they were found in relapse, and then was Petronill burnt at Kilkennie, the other twaine might not be heard of. She at the hour of hir death accused the said William as privie to their sorceries, whome the bishop held in durance nine weeks, forbidding his keepers to eat or to drink with him, or to speake to him more than once in the daie. But at length, thorough the sute and instance of Arnold le Powre then seneschall of Kilkennie, he was delivered, and after corrupted with bribes the seneschall to persecute the bishop ; so that he thurst him into prison for three moneths. In rifling the closet of the ladie, they found a wafer of sacramental bread, having the divels name stamped thereon in steed of Jesus Christ, and a pipe of ointment, where- with she greased a staffe, upon which she ambled and gallopped thorough thicke and thin, when and in what manner she listed. This businesse about these witches troubled all the state of Ireland the more, for that the ladie was supported by certeine of the nobilitie, and lastlie conveied over into England, since which time it could never be understood what became of hir."
The following account (which appears to be at least partly the source of that given by Holinshed) is given in the Annales Hiberniae, printed by Camden, (Britannia, Ed. 1607, p. 818) apparently a mere compilation of the fifteenth century, and not very correct.
MCCCXXV. Richardus Lederede episcopus Ossoriensis citavit domi- nam Aliciam Ketyll de haeretica pravitate, et ipsam coram se comparere fecit, et de sortilegiis examinata per inquisitionem invenit quod sortilegia commiserat, inter quae unum fuit maleficium quod quidam daemon incubus nomine Robyn Artysson concubuit cum ea, et ipsa offerebat novem gallos rubeos apud quendam pontem lapideum in quodam quadrivio. Item, ipsam mundare vicos Kylkenniae scopis inter completorium et ignitegium, et sco- pando sordes usque ad domum Willielmi Utlaw filii sui conjurando dixisse, Tota faelicitas Kylkenniae veniat ad domum banc. Complices vero dictae Aliciae et consentientes huic miseriae fuerunt Petronilla de Midia et
NOTF.S. 47
Basilia filia cjusdem Petronilla\ Pnefala Alicia super pmdiotil per in- quisitionem fcrdata, episcopus cam per p<cnain peennianani punivit. ct fecil
cam penitua aortilegiuni abjurare. Scd cum postea mper eodem erimine
fuisset convicta, ipsa cum pncfata Basilia fllgit, ct iiiiik|u;iiii postea full invents. Dicta vcro Petronilla Kilkcnnia? fuit comhuMa. led nun ninrti esset proxima, dixit quod dictus Willielmus tautum meruit mortem licut et ipsa, asscrcudo quod ipse per unuiii ajinum et diem atebttUT zona di&boli taper nudum corpus suuni ; nude episcopus eapi fecil pra-dictum Willielmuin et earceri mancipari per OCto septimanas et no\em in castro Kilkenny, et decreto episcopi habuit duos homines ad ministrandum, quibus pneceptum fuit ne loqucrcntnr ci nisi scmel in die, nee comederent nee Inherent cum eo. Tandem dictus Willielmus per juramentum domini Arnaldi Peer, BenesceUJ comitatus Kilkenny, fuit a carccre liber.it us, et pnetatus Willielniu- prodicto Arnaldo magnam smnmam pecuni;e dedit tit pra^dictuni episcopum incar- ceraret. Praedictus dominus Arnaldus fecit incarcerari pnefatum episco- pum circa tres menses. Inter res dictao Aliciae invents fuit quaedam hostia in qua nomen diaboli erat scriptum. Inventa fuit etiam quaedam pixia in qua fuit unguentum quo perungi consuevit quaedam trabes vocata cowltre, qua peruncta posset dicta Alicia cum suis sequacibus super ipsam trabem ferri quocunque vellent per nnmdum sine aliqua laesione sou impedimento. Et quia praedicta fuerunt ita notoria, Alicia fuit iterum citata quod com- pareret Dubliniae coram domino decano ccclesiae sancti Patricii ad majorem favorem habendum. Qua? ibidem comparuit, et petit diem ad respondendum sub sufficienti manucaptione, ut putabatur ; ipsa ulterius non comparuit, sed de consilio filii sui et aliorum ignotorum absconsa fuit in villa quousque habuit ventum versus Angliam, et sic transivit, et sic nescitur quo devenit. Et quia inventum fuit per inquisitionem et recognitioncm dicta? Petronillae, incendio danmatae, quod Willielmus Outlaw consentiens fuerat sortilegio matris, episcopus fecit eum capi per breve regis et earceri mancipari, qui tandem ad supplicationem magnatum liberatus fuit, conditionc tamen quod cooperiri faceret ecclesiam Beatae Marias Kilkenniae plumbo, ct alias plures eleemosynas faceret infra certum tempus, quas eleemosynas infra dictum terminum si non compleret, quod esset in eodem statu quo fuit quando captus fuit per brevem regium.
lb. Williekni Outlawe. — There is a curious entry, relating to William Outlawe, in the Irish Patent Roll of 31 Edward I. William le Kiteler, mentioned in it, was perhaps the husband of Dame Alice.
Rex Johanni de Ponte, (recitatur se querelam Willelmi Ttlawe accepisse de eo quod W7illelmus le Kiteler vicecomes libertatis Kilkenniae et alii de prae- cepto Fulconis de la Freyne senescalli dictae libertatis, domum ejus apud Kilkenniam vi et armis ingressi, et ipsam suflfodientes, invenerunt 3000/. per Adam le Blond de Callen et Aliciam uxorem ejus ad custodiendum ci, ut dicit, traditas, et per ipsum sub terra ibidem absconsas, et noctanter ccpe-
48 NOTES.
runt et asportaverunt, simul cum 100/. do propriis denariis ipsius Willelmi inventis) ; tamen quia ex aliquorum insinuatione Rex intellexit quod prae- dicti denarii ad se pertinere debent tanquam thesaurum inventum, assignavit dictum Johannem ad inquirendum veritatem in praemissis, necnon ad ar- estandos dictos denarios et eos deponendos per visum et testimonium dicti senescalli in custodia et loco securo sub sigillo dicti Johannis et senescalli praedicti, donee discussum fuerit in curia Regis ad quern debeant pertinere. Lym', 20 Mar. an. 30.
Rex vicecomiti Dubliniae, (recitat ostensum esse ex parte Adae le Blund de Callen et Aliciae uxoris ejus, quod cum ipsi tradissent ad custodiendum Willielmo Utlawc 3000/. et idem Willelmus eas abscondisset in domo sua apud Kilkenniam, "Willielmus le Kiteler et alii per praeceptum Fulconis de la Freyne senescalli libertatis Kilkenniae, domum praedictum suffodientes, et dictam pecuniam invenientes, earn ceperunt ; et postea occasiones quaerentes ut eandem pecuniam sub colore libertatis praedictae esset forisfacta, ipsi eisdem Ada? et Aliciae, licet in nullo deliquerint, homicidium et alia crimina malitiose [objecerunt], et quod receptassent Roesiam Utlawe super furto facto rectatam et non convictam, et ipsos Adam et Aliciam et Roesiam apud Kilkenniam ceperunt, et in prisona detinent, ipsosque morti tradere [mi- nantur] ; etulterius recitat quod quaerentes invenerant plegios de clamio suo prosequendo et etiam manucaptores, videlicet Eustacbium le Poer, Mauri- cium de Carreu, Johannem le Poer, Stephanum le Poer, Johannem le fiz Poynz, et Gaillardum de Pontefracto, de habendo corpore in curia libertatis praedictae ad standum recto, placito tamen de transgressione praedicta prius in curia Regis terminato) ; praecipit quod ponat per vadia et salvos plegios praedictos Fulconem et Willelmum le Kiteler, quod sint coram justiciario Hiberniae ad respondendum dictis Adae, Aliciae, et Roesiae de transgressione praedicta; et si contingat quod praedictus senescallus cui Rex mandavit quod dictos Adam, Aliciam, et Roesiam a prisona deliberet, eos deliberare noluerit, tunc, ipsos a prisona per manucaptionem praedictam deliberari facere. Teste lit supra.
Simile breve mandatum est senescallo libertatis Kilkenniae. Teste ut supra.
In the Irish Close Roll of 13 Edward III. is the following entry : —
Rex pardonavit YVillelmo Outlawe de Kilkennia sectam pacis de feloniis, etc. 7 Maii.
And in the Irish Close Roll of the 20 of Edward II., two years after the events related in our narrative, we find him indebted to Roger Outlawe in the sum of 1000/.
William Outlawe de Kilkennia cognovit teneri fratri Rogero Outlawe priori hospitalis Sancti Johannis Jerusalem in 1000/. argenti.
P. 2. Artis JiUum. — It is very probable that this is the translation of an Irish name of the hobgoblin, or familiar, of Dame Alice. The name
ttOTWB. 40
•riven in Holinshed, Arti»9okt is a mere translation into English from the
Latin Art is /ilium.
lb. Johannes le Power, — Sir John le Poet was the lasl husband of Alice
Kytelcr; it is not eas\ to identity him, as there were several Johns living at that time. John le Poer, 00X00 of Donoyl, was summoned to parliament
in L810; he was sheriff of Waterford in 1804. His eldest ion Peter !<•
Poer, baron of Donoyll, married Joan daughter of sir John Wogan, lord chief justice of the common pleas in Ireland, whose son John had a son John, who left a daughter and heir, Ismanen, who became the wife of Nicholas de Bekenfield about L350. The property of Kilmeadeii descended to a younger branch. The Powers barons of Currsghmore, now repre- sented by the Marquess of Waterford, were of this family; but Arnold was of another branch, as hereafter stated.
P. 3. jEihiopis. — In the old popish legends, the devils or hobgoblins are very frequently represented as being black, from which is derived the modern popular notion relating to the colour of the evil one. The word cethiops, in low Latin, was used simply to express a person that was black.
lb. Prater Rogerus Outlaw e. — Roger Outlaw, prior of St. John of Jerusalem, was appointed lord justice of Ireland or deputy to Sir John Darcy, lord lieutenant of Ireland, by patent, dated 15 March, 9 Edw. III. 1334. He was first appointed lord deputy of Ireland in 1326, when Thomas Fitz John earl of Kildare was lord justiciary or lieutenant, and continued under Sir John Darcy ; again in 1329, and again in 1346. The patents are enrolled on the Planta Rolls in the Birmingham Tower, 9 Edw. III.
Roger Outlaw commanded an expedition against Brien O'Brien and other enemies of our lord the king in Munster to Athyssel in Tipperary, in which Arnold Outlawe commanded eleven men at arms and forty-eight footmen, 4 Edward III. This Arnold was most likely the son of William Outlawe and the protegee of John le Poer. John le Poer received SI. for four services on the same occasion.
The name of William Outlawe appears on the Pipe Roll in Meath, 6 Ric. II. 1382.
The family of Utlagh were seated in Dublin and filled several situations in the corporation.
lb. Dominus Arnaldus le Pouwer. — This man was lord of Coulmac- samny, in the county of Waterford, and succeeded his brother Robert in that estate in 1308. They were the sons of Robert le Poer of that place.
camd. soc. II
50 NOTES.
He was a commissioner to inquire into the lands of those who assisted Edward Bruce, 1320. His son Eustace succeeded him in 1336.
P. 4. Prioratum de Kenles. — Kells was a walled town in the county of Kilkenny ; it was founded by Geoffery Fitz Robert, who obtained the barony of Kells from Strongbow ; it was made a borough, and received a charter of incorporation for the health of his soul and that of earl Richard his lord. In 1 1 93 the same Geoffrey founded here a priory for regular canons of St. Augustin, and brought the priests from the priory of Bodmin in Cornwall ; viz. Reginald de Aclond, Hugh le Rous, Alured and Algar, of whom Reginald was the first prior, and was succeeded by Hugh le Rous. Alured was first prior of Inisteoge ; and Algar, being sent to Rome, be- came a bishop in Lombardy.
Geoffrey granted considerable possessions to this house, and in due time the prior was summoned to parliament, and became one of the lords spiritual of the Irish Parliament, and so continued till the dissolution of monasteries. The baronv of Kells was granted to Arnold le Poer for life ; and on his death it was granted to Walter de Birmingham, nephew to John earl of Louth, who was summoned to parliament as lord of Kells in Ossory, and died in 1350 ; his only son, Walter, dying without issue, his only sister Margaret became his heir, and carried the barony in fee to the Prestons ; her son Christopher Preston became lord of Kells in Ossory, and was also a peer as lord of Gormanstoun. Robert Preston, her great-grandson, was allowed precedence of the lord of Slane, as lord of Kells in Ossory, in 1462. This town is now but a small village, containing altogether about 1700 inhabitants, chiefly agriculturists. At the dissolution the priory was granted to James earl of Ormond.
lb. I?i partibus de Clomore. — There are two places called Clonmore in the county of Kilkenny, one of which is a parish and a rectory near Carrick on Suire.
lb. Stephanus le Pouwer. — He was of a junior branch of the lord Arnold's family, and son of another Stephen, who married Margaret, daughter and heir of Andrew de Birmingham. He held the office of serjeant or bailiff of the cantred now called the barony of Overk, one of the baronies or hundreds, as they are termed in the English counties, whose dutv it was to execute the writs and warrants of the seneschal of the counties palatine and the sheriffs of other counties. In many counties of Ireland in these early times offices were hereditary.
The branch of the noble family from which Arnold descended was from Walter le Poer, who was lord of the manor of Dumbratyn and Rathgor- muck, in the county of Cork, and married Feya, daughter and heir of
VOTES* •">!
William Deineourt, lord of Inchctli and Lisnekill, in Tipperary, in the
county of Tipperary, l>v whom he had
Benedict le Poor, lord of the same and of Gnu Castle) in right of hit wife Margaret, daughter and heir of William de Gras, of Gras Cattle in
Tipperary, by whom he had main sons: 1. le Poor, who was father
of Eustace le Poer, who was summoned to parliament in 1295) ai lord le Poer, and married the daughter and coheir of Sir William do Odingsels,
lord of Maxtock and Solehall Wolverley in Warwick-hire, and relict of
Peter de Birmingham! but had no issue; -• Walter, heir to his brother:
3. Benedict, father of Stephen, who had a son, Stephen, sergeant of Ovcrk, mentioned in p. 4.
Walter le Poer, lord of Gras Castle, &c. married Amicia, an heiress, and had a son, Walter, who died without issue; and
Matthew le Poer, heir to his father, who married twice: first, Matilda
' ; and, secondly, Dionysia, who succeded him, and had dower in
1-80 ; by which wife he had the issue does not appear, but he had seven sons.
Walter le Poer, lord of Gras Castle, &c. who was father of
Arnold le Poer, lord of the manors of Kilmehide, Balyhavenan, Tylagh, Balytarsyn, Boneston, Burgage, Aleynestoun, Gras Castle, Crohan, Moy- tober, and Garth, in Kilkenny and Tipperary ; also of Kenles in Kilkenny, and Castle Warny, Ughterard, Contyberbeg, and Lynetstoun in Kildare.
He was married to Agnes , wrho survived him, and had dowrer in
1337. He was seneschal of the palatine counties of Kilkenny and Carlow, and the person mentioned in this narrative. He died in the tower-prison of the castle of Dublin, now called the Record Tower. His son and heir, Eustace le Poer, married Matilda de Birmingham, daughter and coheir of John de Birmingham, Earl of Louth (the general of the Irish army in 1315, who defeated Edward Bruce in the battle where that prince was killed), by Avelina, daughter of Walter son of Walter de Burgo earl of Ulster. His son, Arnold le Poer, had livery 7 April, 37th EdwT. III. 1362. It is not necessary to trace this pedigree further.
The power of the church, or rather of ecclesiastics, is exhibited strongly in the fate of Sir Thomas Bath, lord of Lowth, a descendant of Catharine, the youngest daughter of the same earl, who by statute passed 1459, in the parliament held at Drogheda, on the allegation, as recited in preamble, of having put out the eyes of one master John Stackboll, a priest, and doctor of the four degrees, and cut out his tongue, which, by the grace, mediation, and miraculous power of the Virgin Mary, were restored to him, was deprived of his peerage and place in parliament, and rendered incapable of holding office ! Lest this should be considered an exaggeration, we insert the statute :
52
NOTES.
" Drogheda, Friday next after the feast of St. Blaise, before Richard duke of York, &c. 38 Hen. VI. 1459.
" Item, prayen the commons — That whereas Sir Thomas Bath, knight, pretending to be lord of Lowth, whereunto he hath no title of inheritance, at such time as he was in the realme of England, used such conversation and ill conduct as caused him to be committed to the prison of Ludgate, in the city of London, from which prison he was delivered and redeemed, by the aid, labour, and succour of his brother, Bartholomew Bath, and after sued our sovereign lord the king for the office of escheater of Ireland, by which he falsely disseised Sir John Pilkington, knt. to whom and his heirs the said office was granted by king Henry IV. He accused master John Stackboll, doctor of each degree, of high treason, who was acquitted, whom the said Sir Thomas robbed and plundered so much, that the said master John obtained the pope's bull to Edmund bishop of Meath, to declare the said Sir Thomas excommunicate until he restored the said John his goods, who being disobedient, the bishop at Navan, on a market day, in solemn procession, excommunicated the said Sir Thomas in obedience to the pope's command, and desired that in any town, where the said Sir Thomas should thereafter come, no baptism or burial should be had or mass sung or said within three days after his residence there. In which excommunication the said Sir Thomas remains, continuing in his malicious, inhuman, and diabolical obstinacy against the church of God. And not yet content nor satisfied with the intent and gratification of his said malice, caused certain of his servants to go to the abbey of Navan, where the said master John was, and violently took him out of the church of our blessed Lady there and carried him to Wilkinstoun, and there kept him in prison and cut out his tongue ; and, in their estimation, put out his eyes ; after which he was again carried to the said church, and cast before our blessed Lady, by the grace and mediation and miraculous power of whom he was restored to his sight and tongue. Whereupon it being considered, that, if due and severe punishment be not herein made and provided, no man will fear to offend against the church of God, or the censures of the ministers thereof, or the laws, liberties, privileges, and immunities thereof, it was ordained that proclamation be made, that the said Sir Thomas should appear before the duke of York, on Tuesday next, before the feast of Saint Patrick next ensuing, and if he shall not appear, to be out of the king's protection, and forfeit all his lands to the king. And also it is ordained, that the said Sir Thomas never shall have place in the said parliament of the said land, or hold any office therein, by the grant of our sovereign lord. And proclamation was accordingly made two several days."
After this, this nobleman's name appears described in subsequent statutes and records as Sir Thomas Bath, late ford of Louth ! ! !
no i if, .).;
lb. ContraUe, — A eantredt in Ireland And VValee, wat ■ district An- swering to what in England is called a hundred. The name ii interpreted as signifying a hundred \ ills or parishes.
lb. Qua vulgariter Ouerke appellator, — Overk is from 4b a river,
eo\\c of talmon. It is a barony bounded on the south-east by the Suire
river, and by a little stream which rims into that, river near Waterfonl. It no doubt has its name from the great abundance of salmon in the Suire, which divides the county from Waterfonl.
P. 5. Autenticum. — A writ, or warrant.
P 5. Quod a nemine absolvi potestis. — Under the Romish church there was a special division and limitation of the jurisdiction of the different orders oi the hierarchy in absolving from different sins, and from ecclesiastical excommunication. The following extract from a manuscript of the fifteenth century (MS. Bibl. Burney, No. 356, fo. 80. v°.) gives memorial verses enumerating the cases which were left to the parish priest, those which could not be solved by one less than a bishop, and those which came only within the limits of the pope's personal power.
Casus quibus solus papa absolvit.
Incestum faciens, deflorans, aut homicida, Sacrilegus, patris percussor, vel sodomita, Pontificem quaeras papam ; si miseris ignem, Si percussisti clerum, Symonve fuisti, Et si falsasti bullam, papse simul ibis.
Casus quibus papa, sive episcopus, sive alius eorum potestate accepta, absolvit.
Si qua suffocat partum, aut negligit occat, Si pater aut mater violenter laeditur, aut si Quis brutale nephas facit, aut in proditionem Qui proprium dominum perimit, vel in ecclesia qui Sacra laedit graviter, vel qui mcechatur in ilia, Qui matrem, cognatam polluit, atque sororem, Praesulis arbitrio licet occulti subeant hii.
Quicquid hie dicitur, hoc teneas quod sacerdos parochialis potest de omni peccato absolvere pcenitentem, nisi ligatus esset aliqua sententia excommu- nicationis vel irregularitatis, cujus absolutio vel dispensatio ad papam vel episcopum pertinet, vel nisi esset consuetudo in aliquo episcopatu ut de certis criminibus episcopus consuleret.
Non scelus enorme vitii solvas sine papa ; Sacrilegus, cleri percussor sive parentum,
54 NOTES.
Occisor fratris, puerorum, vel mulierum, Ecclesiae sanctae violator in igne vel ense, Aut habitu, coitu duplex incestus, aut omnis adulter, Plenius ut doceam jungantur et hiis homicida?, Perjurus