Medieval Sourcebook:
Johan Nider:
on Joan of Arc
[Coulton introduction] Johann Nider studied at the Universities
of Vienna and Cologne, became professor at Vienna, and prior of
the Dominican convents at Nuremberg and at Bâle. He distinguished
himself as preacher and as inquisitor. In 1431 he was called as
a representative to the General Council of Bâle, and entrusted
later with an important embassy on behalf of that Council. His Formicatius and Preceptorium show him as a learned,
pious, and naturally kind-hearted man; but he was also a zealous
witch-finder. I subjoin here his account of St. Joan and of other
unnamed visionaries of his time; they are of great interest as
showing the ideas of a German inquisitor, who had far better sources
of information than most of his contemporaries, as to the action
of his fellow-inquisitors in France. The Extracts is taken from
the edition of Formicatius published at Douai in 1602.
Nider wrote the book between 1431, when he joined the Council
of Bâle, and his death in 1438; St. Joan was burned in May
1431
JOAN OF ARC
PUPIL. In your opinion, have some good men been deceived
by sorceresses or witches in our own day?
MASTER:. In what here follows, I suspend my judgment; but
I will tell you what is repeated by public rumor and report. We
have in our days the distinguished professor of divinity, brother
Heinrich Kaltyseren, Inquisitor of Heretical Depravity. Last
year, while he was exercising his inquisitorial office in the
city of Cologne, as he himself told me, he found in the neighborhood
a certain maiden who always went about in a man's dress, bore
arms and dissolute garments like one of nobles' retainers; she
danced in dances with men, and was so given to feasting and drink
that she seemed altogether to pass the bounds of her sex, which
she did not conceal. And because at that time, (as, alas! even
to-day) the see of Trèves was sorely troubled by two rivals
contending for the bishopric. she boasted that she could and would
set one party upon throne, even as Maid Joan, of whom I shall
presently speak, had done shortly before with Charles king of
France, confirming him in his kingdom. Indeed, this woman claimed
to be that same Joan, raised up by God. One day therefore, when
she had come into Cologne with the young count of Württemberg,
who protected and favored her, and there in the sight of the nobles,
had performed wonders which seemed due to magic art, she was at
last diligently scrutinized and publicly cited by the aforesaid
inquisitor, in order that she might be examined. For she was said
to have cut a napkin in pieces, and suddenly to have restored
it whole in the sight of the people; to have thrown a glass against
the wall and broken it and to have repaired it in a moment, and
to have shown many such idle devices. But the wretched woman would
not obey the commands of the Church; the count protected her from
arrest and brought her secretly out of Cologne; thus she did indeed
escape from the inquisitor's hands but not from the sentence of
excommunication. Thus bound under curse, she quitted. Germany
for France, where she married a certain knight, to protect herself
against ecclesiastical interdict and the sword. Then a certain
priest, or rather pimp, seduced this witch with talk of love;
so that she stole away with him at length and went to Metz, where
she lived as his concubine and showed all men openly by what spirit
she was led.
Moreover, there was lately in France, within the last ten years,
a maid of whom I have already spoken, named Joan, for her prophetic
spirit and for the power of her miracles. For she always wore
man's dress, nor could all the persuasions of any doctors [of
divinity] bend her to put these aside and content herself with
woman's garments, especially considering that she openly professed
herself a woman and a maid. "In these masculine garment she
said, "in token of future victory, I have been sent by God
to preach both by word and by dress, to help Charles, the true
king of France, and to set him firm upon his throne from whence
the king of England and the duke of Burgundy are striving to chase
him"; for, at that time, those two were allied together,
and oppressed France most grievously with battle and slaughter.
Joan, therefore, rode constantly like a knight with her lord,
predicted many successes to come, was present at some victories
in the field, and did other like wonders, whereat not only France
marveled, but every realm in Christendom. At last this Joan came
to such a pitch of presumption that, before France had been yet
recovered, she already sent threatening letters to the Bohemians,
among whom there were then a multitude of heretics. Thenceforward
layfolk and ecclesiastics, Regulars and Cloisterers began to doubt
of the spirit whereby she was ruled, whether it were devilish
or divine. Then certain men of great learning wrote treatises
concerning her, wherein they expressed not only diverse but also
adverse opinions as to the Maid. But, after that she had given
great help to king Charles, and had confirmed him for some years
upon his throne, then at last, by God's will, as it is believed,
she was taken in arms by the English and cast into prison. A great
multitude were then summoned, of masters both in Canon and in
Civil Law, and she was examined for many days. And, as I have
heard from Master Nicolas Amfici [Coulton not: this seems to be
a scribal error for Nicolas Midi] Llicentiate of Theology, who
was ambassador for the University of Paris, she at length confessed
that she bad a familiar angel of God, which, by many conjectures,
and proofs, and by the opinion of the most learned men, was judged
to be an evil spirit; so that this spirit rendered her a sorceress;
wherefore they permitted her to be burned at the stake by the
common hangman; and the king of England gave a like account of
this story, at great length, in a letter to our emperor Sigimund.
At this same time two women arose near Paris, preaching publicly
that they had been sent by God to help Maid Joan; and, as I heard
from the very lips of the aforesaid Master Nicolas, they were
forthwith arrested as witches or sorceresses by the Inquisitor
for France, and examined by many Doctors of Theology, and found
at length to have been deceived by the ravings of the evil spirit.
When therefore one of these women saw that she had been misled
by an angel of Satan, she relinquished that which she had begun,
by the advice of her masters, and, as was her duty, abjured her
error forthwith. But the other abode in her obstinacy and was
burned.
PUPIL: I cannot sufficiently marvel how the frail sex
can to rush into such presumptuous things. MASTER: These
things are marvelous to simple folk like you!, but they are not
rare in the eyes of wise men. For there three things in nature,
which, if they transgress the limits of their own condition, whether
by diminution or by excess attain to the highest pinnacle whether
of goodness or of evil. These are, the tongue, the ecclesiastic,
and the woman; all of theee are commonly best of all, so long
as they are guided by a good spirit, but worst of all if guided
by an evil spirit.
From C.G. Coulton, ed, Life in the Middle Ages, (New York:
Macmillan, c.1910), Vol I, 210-213 [text slightly modernized]
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(c)Paul Halsall August 1996
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
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