The "Witch-hammer" allows an accused to have an advocate, but adds: "If
the counsellor defends his suspected client too warmly, it is right and
reasonable that he should be considered as far more criminal than the
sorcerer or the witch herself; that is to say, as the protector of witches
and heretics, he is more dangerous than the sorcerer. He should be looked
upon with suspicion in the same degree as he makes a zealous defence." But
a trial may be difficult enough without being clogged and hampered by a
cunning advocate. In order to confuse such a one and ensnare the accused,
it is necessary, says the "Witch-hammer," that a judge should remember the
words of the apostle, "_Being crafty I caught you with guile_," and show
himself crafty. The "Witch-hammer" informs the judge of five "honest and
apostolical tricks" (these are the very words of the book); one of them
consists in embodying in the copy of the proceedings which is given to the
defending lawyer, a number of facts that have not occurred in the trial,
and in mixing the names of the witnesses. "By that means the accused and
their lawyer may be so confused that they nowise know who has said any
thing, or what has been said."
Among the questions to be put to a person under accusation, the
"Witch-hammer" recommends a number, the quality of which may be
appreciated by reading the following examples: "Do you know that people
hold you to be a witch? Why have you been observed upon the precincts of
N. N.? Why have you touched N. N.'s child (or cow)? How did it happen that
the child (or the cow) soon after fell sick? What was your business
outside of your house when the storm broke forth? How can you explain that
your cow yields three times as much milk as the cows of others?"
Sprenger's work gives a detailed account of the treatment to which a
person who is accused of sorcery and handed over to the judge must be
subjected. Before the trial the accused must be put on the rack in order
that his mind may be inclined to confession. Some, rather than confess
their guilt, allow themselves to be torn asunder limb by limb; they are
"the worst witches," and their endurance is explained by the supposition
"that the devil hardens them against their tortures." Others who have been
less faithful to him he abandons, and are thus easily induced to confess.
"If no confession has been wrung from the witch during the first day"--we
quote the "Witch-hammer" literally--"the torture is to be continued the
second and the third day. The civil law forbids, to be sure, to _repeat_
the torture, when no proof has been adduced, but it may be _continued_."
The judge should therefore use the following formula: "We ordain that the
torture shall be _continued_ (not _repeated_) to-morrow."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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