MEDIEVAL WITCH BELIEFS IN SECULAR AND CHURCH LAW

I. Images of the Witch in early medieval sources --
      series of separate images which later are combined:           

    1)  MALEFICA: female perpetrator of maleficium
             THEODOSIAN CODE - late 4th C. (see handout on Medieval Witch Beliefs)
                     380 Emperor Theodosius: in 390, outlaws pagan Roman religion
                             Christianity becomes official religion of Empire

     2)  STRIX or STRIGA (Latin: screech owl; witch)        
            cannibalistic, flying bird/woman: evidence from

            a) late Roman sources
                       OVID, Metamorphoses  ;   APULEIUS, The Golden Ass

           b) Barbarian Law Codes : customary laws of Germanic tribes
                                                             written in Latin from 6-8th C.
                   Wergeld system: penalties = fines,   "lucrative justice"

                   Salic Law (Franks) 6th C
                   Lombard Code (Italy) 7th C, 643 AD
                   Charlemagne's capitulary for Saxons 789 AD  

( for these texts: see link/handout on early medieval beliefs   &    Cohn p. 164)                

    3) DIANA, HOLDA, LADIES OF THE NIGHT

            CANON EPISCOPI 960 AD  
                        (see text in Kors & Peters, #5, pp. 60-63)
               1140 included in Gratian's Decretum: authoritative  compilation of canon law (= church law)

                   popular image: protective female figure
                   clerical version: reversion to paganism

K&P #5 Canon Episcopi, circa 906 AD: most important early document
     1) earliest version is in Regino of Prum's collection of  church canons (decrees) issued
            by local synods or councils. Title is first word of Latin text (Episcopi or “Bishops”).
    2) included in 12^th C Gratian’s Decretum 1140 important collection of medieval canon law

What is involved in “nightflying with Diana,” the popular belief described in this text? 
               Who believes this?
What is the official attitude towards this belief expressed in the text? 
Do the "ladies of the night" really fly, in the view of the author? 
How skeptical is this document? What does it believe versus what does it reject? 
What are the people who believe this guilty of,and what should be done with them?

II. Attitude of Church to Witch Beliefs

      early skepticism:

            1) Canon Episcopi on nightflying with Diana

            2) Burchard's Corrector rusticorum on striga
                  text in Kors & Peters (2cd edition) #6, pp. 63-67

K&P #6 Burchard of Worms, Corrector sive Medicus Rusticorum  11th C.
                      (The Corrector, or Doctor of Rustics)

Genre of penitential canons: church decrees specifying penances to be imposed by a confessor
for specific sins; confessor should ask the person seeking forgiveness about these sins.

What kinds of magical practices are reflected in these texts?
#70 & 90  Compare these sections with Canon Episcopi (above):   note their similarities & differences.

#170  This is an important text for beliefs about the striga:
           how does the striga differ from the beliefs described in  the Canon Episcopi?

#175  Lifting footprints:  what is going on here?
#181  What is done to body of unbaptized dead infants? Why?

      later growth of ecclesiastical support for witch beliefs:

            Causes:  1)  THEOLOGICAL:
                                       a) SCHOLASTICISM  and  b) DEMONOLOGY
                              2)  JUDICIAL:     rise of the INQUISITION