The Devil Within by Brian Levack

Author:Brian Levack
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780300114720
Publisher: Yale University Press (Ignition)

CHAPTER 8

The Demoniac and the Witch

DEMONIC POSSESSION AND WITCHCRAFT, as they were understood in the early modern period, were two distinct but related activities. Possession was the alleged occupation of a human body by one or more demons that resulted in the person's loss of control over his or her physical and mental functions. Witchcraft was the infliction of harm or misfortune by means of a magical power that the witch was believed to have acquired from the Devil. In most cases it was believed that the witch had acquired this magical power by concluding a pact with the Devil. In some cases the witch was also believed to have worshipped the Devil together with other witches in nocturnal assemblies known as sabbaths (sabbats in French). The main difference between possession and witchcraft, at least according to demonological theory, was that demoniacs were not held criminally responsible for what they had done while possessed, whereas the witch was liable to vigorous prosecution by either ecclesiastical or secular authorities. While as many as fifty thousand individuals were executed for witchcraft during the early modern period, demoniacs were never prosecuted for what they did while under the influence of demons. A few of them were tried (but never executed) for faking their possessions, and a very small number were prosecuted for becoming witches, but prosecution for what they did while under the influence of the Devil would have been tantamount to prosecuting the Devil himself, and no secular or ecclesiastical court has ever claimed jurisdiction over supernatural beings.

Despite this fundamental difference, demonic possession and witchcraft were closely related activities. Since both involved the exercise of demonic power in human society, it is understandable why demonologists claimed that a relationship existed between the demoniac and the witch. The primary connection was that witches were often prosecuted for causing the possession of another person. According to contemporary demonological theory, possessions could be initiated either by the Devil himself or by a witch using demonic power. When the latter method of possession was employed, the afflictions suffered by the demoniac were regarded as the maleficia, or acts of harmful magic, performed by witches. The Dominican inquisitor Jean Vineti, writing in the 1460s, argued that demonic possession was the model for all other maleficia, since it was the simplest form of physical harm attributable to demonic power and had the deepest roots in the Christian tradition.1 In the Malleus maleficarum Heinrich Kramer wrote that although demons could possess individuals directly with God's permission, they usually did so at the instance of witches. Witches, moreover, were morally responsible for the possession, since they guided the Devil's hand throughout the process.2

The belief that witches could send demons into the bodies of other human beings never commanded universal support. The main argument against this proposition was that witches did not have the power to perform the deeds attributed to them. In 1563 the sceptical Dutch physician Johann Weyer denied that witches could command demons to do anything, including sending them into the bodies of human beings.

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