ABSTRACT
Monsieur, I no longer marvel that there have formerly been witches who have said that if as many of them were men as there were women, and if they had a great lord as their leader, they would be strong enough to make war upon a king. For I have no doubt but that this would in such a case be easy for them, and that they would even overcome their enemies. I do not mean that they would do so by means of their spells and charms, although we read that this was done by Oddo, the great pirate and sea-rover, in Denmark, and by the Huns who by their magic arts defeated Sigisbert, King of Soissons, in the time of Chilperic, not to mention Haakon, Prince of Norway, who fought his enemies with storms of hail. But I mean that they could raise an army equal to that of Xerxes, although that was of eighteen hundred thousand men. For if it is true that Trois-eschelles, one of the best informed of their sect, declared in the time of Charles IX that there were in France alone three hundred thousand, or as some read, thirty thousand witches, at what figure can we estimate the number of those which could be found in all the different countries of the world? And must we not believe that since that time they have increased by more than half? For my part I have no doubt of it. For if we but look around among our own neighbors, we shall find them all infested with this miserable and damnable vermin. Germany is almost entirely occupied with building fires for them. Switzerland has been compelled to wipe out many of her villages on their account. Travelers in Lorraine may see thousands and thousands of the stakes to which witches are bound. We in Burgundy are no more exempt than other lands; for in many parts of our country we see that the execution of witches is a common occurrence. Returning again to our neighbors, Savoy has not escaped this pest; for every day she sends us a countless number of persons possessed of demons which, on being exorcised, say that they have been sent by witches into the bodies of these poor wretches; moreover, most of the witches whom we have burned here came originally from Savoy. And what shall we say of France? It is difficult to believe that she is purged of witches, considering the great number which she had in the time of Trois-eschelles. I say nothing of other more remote lands. No, no; there are witches by the thousand everywhere, multiplying upon earth even as worms in a garden. And this is a shame to the magistrates whose duty it is to punish felons and criminals; for if we had no more than the direct command of God to put them to death as being His bitterest enemies, why should we endure them any longer and thus disobey the Majesty of the Most High? In this we do even worse than the witches themselves; for disobedience is likened to idolatry and witchcraft by Samuel, speaking to Saul. And Saul found this to be true, to his own great damage; for because he did not slay all the Amalekites and their cattle as he had been commanded, God was angry with him and
happen to us as it did to Saul for that one disobedience. I pass over the fact that God at various times threatened cities and villages with destruction for this crime, and that He has sometimes brought them to utter ruin for the same crime of witchcraft. I say nothing, too, of the fact that the only delight of witches is to do ill, and that they gloat over the sickness and death of persons and cattle. This is but another reason why we should naturally be incited to punish them, provided that there is any humanity in us and if, to speak more strongly, we are at all worthy of the name of man. For even the most irrational beasts do not suffer amongst them those which league and conspire together against the rest, as we know from experience. Nature, or to speak more correctly, the Author of nature, naturally impresses this common duty on our minds; for otherwise the world could not continue. For these reasons, therefore, it is necessary that everybody should bear a hand in so good a work, and especially those in authority so that we may show ourselves to be what we were created to be, namely men and reasonable beings, and that we bring not upon us the destroying anger and indignation of the Living God. I know that there have before this been those who have not been able to believe that what is said of witches is true; but in these present days they are beginning to believe it, owing to a special grace of God, who has opened their eyes, which had been blinded by Satan that by this means he might, as he has done, increase his kingdom. These men, I say, are now busy in hunting down witches, so that not long ago they caused some to be put to death. And I take this as a sign that in a short time Satan and all his subjects will be overcome, and witches will no longer boast that they are able to make war upon a king, as they have done before now. I would have them to know that, if effect could be given to my wish, the earth would be immediately cleared of them; for I would that they should all be united in one single body, so that they might all be burned at once in a single fire. In the same way a certain emperor wished, but wished wrongly, that all the Romans might have but a single head, so that he might slay them with one blow. Meanwhile, I shall use every endeavor to make war upon them, both by bringing them to justice, and by my humble writings, as I now do with this treatise which I offer again to the public under your name, Monsieur, always presupposing that Monseigneur your uncle, to whom I dedicated it in the first place, will agree that during his absence you should take his place in this new edition, and that on your own part you will be pleased to accept my offer coming from one who has already devoted himself entirely to you and desires ever to be known, Monsieur, as your very humble servant, Henry Boguet. . . .
