ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an idea of the power that religion and fear of God’s wrath exerted on people’s lives at the time, as we shall explore more closely later. It goes on to calculate the frightful and profane consequences of giving false witness and concludes: Therefore, every Christian should beware of giving false witness or of wanton oaths if he holds dear the wellbeing and beatitude of his soul. The nightmen’s impecunious neighbours observed no doubt with some envy the apparent abundance of meat that decked the nightmen’s table, and the occupants of the house made no attempt to moderate their bragging about their wealth in that department. All the confessions the nightmen made concerning the serious theft of living animals out on the fields took place without the prosecutor having the least evidence to pressure them with.
