Bernard Gui, Manuel de l'inquisiteur, trad. G. Mollat, Paris, Champion, 1927, t. II, 22-25.
Translation (c) Jeay and Garay

Instructions for the cross-examination of witches, seers, and invocators of demons.

Of the witch, seer or invocator of demons, you will ask the nature and number of magic spells, divinations or invocations he knows, and from whom he learnt them. Details will be looked for according to the quality and status of the person because cross-examinations should not be the same for everybody. They should be different for men and women. The following questions should be asked of the suspect: what does he know and what has he learned? In which practices did he indulge with children who are victims of spells or must be freed from enchantment?

[...] The suspect will be questionned about lead figures made by witches, how they have been manufactured, and their usage. He will be asked who informed him about them and for how long he engaged in such practices. How many people consulted him, especially during the current year?

Has he been previously forbidden to indulge in such practices? By whom? Has he promised to cease these practices? Has he resumed them in spite of his promise and abjuration? Did he believe that these teachings are true? What benefits, gifts or rewards did he receive for using them?

Beguins.
Bernard Gui, Manuel de l'inquisiteur, trad. G. Mollat, Paris, Champion, 1927, t. II, 188-91.
Translation (c) Jeay and Garay

Among Beguins, some are mischievous and cunning in order to disguise the truth; they hide and conceal themselves as well as their accomplices. Fearing the revelation of their error and falseness, they answer questions in terms so ambiguous, obscure, vague, and confused that a clear truth cannot be drawn from their answers. If they are asked to declare if they believe in this or that article, they give this answer every time: "I believe what is believed in God's Church, my faith is conform to its faith". Asked again, they don't want to give other answers or explanations.

Jews
Bernard Gui, Manuel de l'inquisiteur, trad. G. Mollat, Paris, Champion, 1927, 6-19.
Translation (c) Jeay and Garay

Treachery of Jews against the Christian faith.

Deceitful Jews are striving as often as they can to secretly corrupt Christians for converting them to Jewish perfidy. They do this especially with Jews who have converted to Christian faith and received baptism, especially if they are close friends or kin. [...]

Rites practiced by Jews for winning over those who have converted to Christianity.

They must be submitted to a rite which is called "tymla" in Hebrew, which means taking a bath, and washing oneself in water in order to become Jew again. Then the Jew who presides the ceremony says in Hebrew: "Baaltussuna", which means: "Come back from your sinful state". After that he is undressed and sometimes bathed in warm water. Then his whole body is rubbed with sand, especially on his forehead, on his chest and hands, that is the places where the anointing of baptism was made. And the nails of his hands and feet are filed until they bleed. His head is shaved and plunged three times into the water of a stream. After this immersion, the following prayer is recited: "Blessed be God, king of centuries, who ordered us to purify ourselves in this water, in this bath called 'tymla' in Hebrew". He comes out of the water, puts on a new shirt and new breeches, and all the Jews who are present kiss him and give him a name, the very name he received before his baptism. The convert who is "rejudaized" must respect the law of Moses, promise to keep and observe it, and live in conformity with it. He must renounce his baptism and Christian faith and never practice it again. ... He is then given a letter so that other Jews can trust him and treat him favourably.

[...] When Christians become Jews they are given a certificate of Judaization. They must always have it with them otherwise Jews will not drink and eat with them. The names of the masters who have "unbaptized" them must be written on the certificate.

Intolerable blasphemies uttered by Jews against Christ, His faith and the Christian people.

Curses and maledictions poured out by Jews against the Christian people can be found in a book called Maazor by the French Jews, which means "collection of prayers", and Typhilloth by Jews from Provence, that is "book of prayers". The prayer they recite three times a day has many of curses and maledictions against Christians and the Roman faith which they call a damned and depraved kingdom. They ask God to destroy it as well as all the Christians. They don't use the word Christian, but imply it with the word "minim" which means heretic. During the feast of purifications, in September, they recite a special prayer called "cematha", that is anathema, separation or malediction, aimed at all their enemies. They consider Christ as the illegitimate son of a prostitute and the Virgin Mary as a voluptuous and lustful woman, a hideous thing to say and even to think. They curse them as well as the Roman faith and all the faithful.

Jews have a high regard for a book attributed to Solomon and entitled Gloss on the text of the Law. They believe in it and comment all its expressions. [...] Jews profess and teach these glosses, even if they are condemned, as well as the Talmud. They are aimed at Christ, arguing that He is not God and cannot be the Messiah promised by the Law. This book says that all those who follow Jesus Christ's way and faith are heretics and unfaithful. The prayer mentioned above is directly aimed at the faithful and recited three times a day by Jews.

Another book, called by its author Explicitation and Restitution of the Law, and by the Jews Glosses of Moses in Egypt, contains duplicities and deceitfulness borrowed from the Talmud. It also contains falseties and blasphemies against God's faith. All those who follow Christ's way and faith are called heretics, "minim" in Hebrew. According to the same book, Jesus Christ erred and acted against God and His Law. He was more deceitful than Mohamed in leading the greatest part of the world to falsely adore another God than the only God , and in abolishing His Law. [...] Another book Jews call Gloss of David The Spaniard is a comment on the Psalter where many attacks against Christ, Christians and the faithful can be found.

 

 
   
Back to Top

Copyright: McMaster University, 2000