Medicine in the Middle Ages: Extracts from "Le Moyen Age Medical" by Dr. Edmond Dupouy; translated by T. C. MinorDupouy, Edmond
History
Medicine in the Middle Ages: Extracts from "Le Moyen Age Medical" by Dr. Edmond Dupouy; translated by T. C. Minor
Dupouy, Edmond
Medicine, Medieval
Let us pass over an interminable recital made by Francoise Fontaine
to the priests and counsellors of the King, relative to _diabolic
possession_, to which she had been subject all her life. Also, as to
the testimony of many witnesses as to her performance while in jail;
as, for instance, “the body of Francoise rose in the air about four
feet, without being in contact with anything, and she floated towards
us in the air,” etc., etc.
Francois Fontaine claimed that she had consented to belong to the
Demon, who was “a black man with whom she had cohabited.” Considered
from a medical standpoint the girl was a victim to hysterical
demonomania.
Let us make a few more extracts from the records of this trial:
“As the aforesaid Fontaine told us these things, being meantime on
her two knees before us, who were seated on a raised platform, the
aforesaid Fontaine fell forward on her face as though she had been
struck from above, and the candles in the chandeliers of the room
were extinguished, except those on the clerk’s table, the which were
roughly blown upon several times without being put out, when no visible
person present was near them to blow, and these candles were raised out
of their candlesticks, lighted as they were, and rubbed against the
ground in an attempt to extinguish them, and the which were finally
extinguished with a great noise, without any human hand appearing near
them; the which so astonished the priest, the advocate, the first
jailer, the archers guard, who were present, that they retired, leaving
us alone, the hour being then nine o’clock at night.
“Finding myself alone, I recommended my soul to God, and exclaimed in
a loud voice the words, ‘My God, give me grace not to lose my soul to
the Devil, and I command thee O, Demon, by the power I have invoked, to
leave the body of Francoise Fontaine! Again I repeat the command!’”
At the same instant the exorcist felt himself seized by the legs, arms
and body, and tightly held in the arms of an unknown force, which felt
hot and blew a warm breath, while blows were rained on the Judge’s body
as though he were beaten by a heavy piece of wood. He was struck on the
jaw and under the ear hard enough to draw blood, etc.
At the eleventh trial it was found that Francoise Fontaine was bodily
raised out of bed during the night by an unseen force, and this fact is
duly authenticated by witnesses.
In the following trial the same phenomena were produced in the church
at Louviers, during the mass of exorcism, where:
“Francoise Fontaine floated from the earth into the air, higher than
the altar, as though lifted up by the hair by an unseen hand, which
quickly alarmed the assistants, who had never before witnessed such an
occurrence,” etc.
In presence of these facts Francoise was led back to prison, and it was
decided by the clerical council, assisted by two eminent physicians,
Roussel and Gautier, to cut off the girl’s hair, as was the custom when
witches were arrested.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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