CHAPTER VII.--WITCHCRAFT.

Its Origin in the Fifteenth Century 492

The Sabbat.--Regarded at first as a Diabolic Illusion 493

Adopted by the Church as a Reality 497

Its Ceremonies 500

Power and Malignity of the Witch 501

The Church Helpless to Counteract her Spells 506

Belief Stimulated by Persecution 508

Witches Lose Power when Arrested 509

Secular and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over Witchcraft 511

Inquisitorial Process as Applied to Witchcraft 513

Case of the Witches of the Canavese 518

Case of the Vaudois of Arras 519

Slow Development of the Witchcraft Craze 534

Stimulated by the Inquisition and the Church 538

Influence of the _Malleus Maleficarum_ 543

Opposition to the Inquisition.--France.--Cornelius Agrippa 544

Opposition of Venice.--The Witches of Brescia 546

Terrible Development in the Sixteenth Century 549