According to Caesarius of Heisterbach, demons inflicted a “thousand arts of injury” on unwary people. While many of the anecdotes in his Dialogue on Miracles related the woeful fates of sinful prelates and monks, laypeople were equally susceptible to the snares of the Devil. Necromancers featured prominently in these stories. These masters of the dark arts summoned demons for a variety of nefarious purposes, often with dangerous consequences for their inquisitive friends and students. Caesarius also implicated women in these stories in two different ways: as demonic disguises to lure young men to their doom; and as figures of vanity around which demons swarmed.
A certain knight, Henry by name, from the castle of Falkenstein, served as the butler of our fellow monk Caesarius, then abbot of Prüm. And as I heard the story from Caesarius, this knight doubted the reality of demons and whatever he heard or ever had heard concerning them, he dismissed as foolishness. So he summoned a clerk, Philip by name, who had made a name for himself as a necromancer and nagged him to show him some demons. Even when this man responded that demons were terrifying and dangerous to behold and no one should seek them out, the knight did not relent in his request. Philip responded, “If you will guarantee my safety, that no harm will come to me from your relatives or friends if by chance you are deceived or frightened or injured by any demons, then I will do as you ask.” And the knight agreed.
At noon hour on a certain day, the reason being that the powers of the demons are greater in the middle of the day, Philip led the knight to a crossroad, traced a circle around him with the tip of a sword, and explained to the man inside the circle the way the circle worked, saying, “If you extend any part of your body outside of the boundary of this circle before my return, you will die, because demons will seize you and that will be the end of you. He also warned the knight to give them nothing that they request, to promise them nothing, and not to make the sign of the cross. And he added, “The demons will tempt and terrify you in many different ways, but they can cause you no harm, if you heed my instructions.” Then the necromancer departed.
While the knight was sitting alone in the circle, behold he saw coming toward him swells of water, then he heard the grunting of pigs, the roar of winds, and many other illusions like these, by which the demons tried to frighten him. But because missiles that are foreseen do less harm, he was not disturbed by these apparitions. Last of all, he spied in the neighboring forest something that looked like a loathsome human shadow, taller than the treetops, which hastened toward him. And he knew immediately that this was the devil, as indeed it was. When it reached the circle, it paused and asked the knight what he wanted from him. He looked like a giant man, immensely large and blacker than black, draped in dark clothing, and so hideous that the knight could not bear to look upon him. Henry said to him, “It was good of you to come. I wanted to have a look at you.” “For what purpose?” the devil asked. “I have heard many things about you.” Henry responded. “Like what?” the devil asked. “Not many good things and a very many bad things,” the knight answered. “Human beings often judge me and condemn me without cause,” the devil said. “I harm no one and I wound no one unless I am provoked. Your master Philip is a good friend of mine and I return the favor. Ask him if I have ever done him wrong. I do what pleases him and he obliges me in every way. I came to you just now because he summoned me to do so.” Then the knight said, “Where were you, when he summoned you?” The demon responded, “I was on the far side of the ocean, the same distance away as we currently are from the sea. And therefore, it seems right that you should recognize my efforts to get here with a gift of some kind.” The knight asked, “What do you want?” The demon responded, “I desire and ask that you give me your cloak.” When Henry said no, the devil asked for his belt, and then a sheep from his flock. When he was denied these things, he made his last request for a rooster from his courtyard. The knight asked him why he wanted a rooster. The demon answered, “To sing to me.” When Henry asked how he planned to take possession of the rooster, the devil said, “Don’t you worry about that; you only have to give him to me.” Then the knight said, “I will give you nothing at all. Tell me, though, how do you know so much?” The demon responded, “There is no evil in the world that is hidden from me. And so that you know this to be true, behold in such and such a town in such and such a house, you lost your virginity and in such and such a place you committed such and such sins.” And the knight could not deny it, because the devil spoke the truth…After the demon asked again for I know not what and Henry denied him yet again, he reached out with his hand as though he wanted to seize the knight and drag him away. This terrified Henry so much that he fell backwards and cried aloud. Hearing his voice, Philip came running and upon his arrival, the apparition disappeared. From that time onwards, the knight was always very pale and never recovered his natural complexion. He corrected his ways and was a firm believer in the existence of demons. It was not long ago that he died.
Our fellow monk of blessed memory, Gotteschalk of Valmarstein, related to me something that should not be passed over in silence. One day when Gotteschalk asked the aforesaid Philip to tell him some curious anecdotes concerning the necromantic arts, he responded as follows, “I will tell you about an amazing event that actually happened in Toledo during our time. When many scholars from different places were studying the art of necromancy in that city, certain young men from Swabia and Bavaria heard stupendous and unbelievable stories from their master. Wanting to test whether these stories were true, they said to him, ‘Master, we want you to show us with visual proof the skills that you are teaching us, so that we may reap the fruit of our studies.’ Even though he rebuffed them, they did not quiet down, the reason being that people from that part of the world are strange, so at the appropriate hour he led them into a field, made a circle around them, warning them under threat of death to stay inside of it, and he ordered them not to give anything to anyone who asks or to receive anything offered.
“Moving a short distance from them, he summoned demons with his incantations. Soon they appeared in the guise of soldiers properly armed and marched in formation around the young men. Sometimes they would pretend to fall, at other times they would point their spears and swords toward the students, trying in every way to lure them outside of the circle. When the demons were unsuccessful at doing so, they transformed themselves into the most beautiful young women and danced in a circle around them, inviting the young men with their enticing movements. One of them, more attractive than the others, singled out one of the students. Every time she danced toward him, she offered up a golden ring, kindling his lust inwardly by suggestion and outwardly by the movement of her body. After she had done this many times, the young man could no longer resist and thrust his finger outside of the circle toward the ring. Immediately she dragged him out by the same finger, and they disappeared.
“With their prey in hand, the evil assembly dissolved in a whirlwind. The master came running when he heard the screaming and crying of his disciples, who complained about the capture of their colleague. He said to them, ‘I am not at fault. You compelled me to do this. I told you what would happen. You will not see him again.’ They replied to him, ‘If you do not restore him to us, we will kill you.’ Fearing for his life, because he knew that the Bavarians were filled with rage, he answered, ‘I will see if there is any hope for him.’ Summoning the leader of the demons, he reminded the demon of his faithful service and told him that his work would be diminished, and he would be killed by his disciples unless the young man was restored. Moved by his plight, the devil responded, ‘I will hold a council on your behalf at such and such a place tomorrow. You will be present and if by some means you can get him back through a judgment, then I am fine with that.’
“What more to say? At the command of their leader, the council of evil spirits convened. The master made his complaint regarding the violence done to his disciple. From the adversary came this response: ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘I have done neither harm nor violence to him. He was disobedient to his master because he did not follow the rule of the circle.’ While they were arguing in this way, the leader asked a certain demon next to him concerning the judgment, saying, ‘Oliver, you always offered sound counsel. You never accepted a person contrary to justice. Settle the question of this case.’ This demon responded, ‘I judge that the young man should be sent back to his master.’ Turning immediately to the adversary, he said, ‘Return him, because you were very rude to him.’ The assembled demons agreed with this judgment. At the command of the judge, they quickly fetched the student from Hell, returned him to his master, dismissed the council, and returned the relieved master to his disciples with their prize restored. But the young man’s face was haggard and deathly pale, the color so transformed that it seemed as though he had just been revived from the grave. He related to his colleagues what he had seen in Hell and showed them more by example than by word how hateful and contrary to God the study of necromancy was. Departing from that place, he entered a monastery of the Cistercian order.”
An upright citizen told me this story, asserting that it truly took place in Mainz in our times, if I remember correctly. On a certain Sunday, when a priest was making the rounds in his church and sprinkling the people with holy water, coming to the main door of the building, he saw a woman approaching in a pompous manner. She was adorned with many ornaments like a peacock. In the train of her garments, which trailed a long way behind her, there was a multitude of demons. They were as small as mice and as black as Ethiopians, laughing loudly and clapping their hands and leaping about just like fish caught in a net. For truly the fancy attire of women is the devil’s net. When the priest saw this, he made this chariot of demons wait outside, summoned the congregation, and commanded the demons to stay put. The woman tarried in terror, while the priest, who was a good and just man, obtained through prayer that the people would merit to see these visions. Realizing that she had been held up to ridicule by demons because of the pomposity of her dress, the woman returned home, changed her clothes, and that vision became an opportunity for humility, both for her and for the other women present.