THE SCENE: In the medieval mind, the line between heretic and agent-of-the-devil could be very thin indeed.
THE TEXT: About the same time, pope Eugenius was called to the administration of the holy see of Rome, on account of the strictness of his monastic character. He came into France for the maintenance of ecclesiastical discipline, and held a general council at Reims. Here, while he was sitting, fully attended by prelates and nobles, a certain malignant person was brought before him, who, possessed with the spirit of the devil, had led astray so many people by his demoniacal craft, that, relying on the number of his followers, he traversed different places in an alarming manner, manifesting his hostility more especially against churches and monasteries. After a long and successful career, wisdom at length getting the ascendancy of malignity, he was taken by the archbishop of Reims, and presented to this holy synod.
He appeared possessed of considerable dignity; his appointments and attendants were princely; and his adherents, free from anxiety and labor, seemed to be expensively appareled, to banquet splendidly, and to live in perfect joy, insomuch that many of the persons who had come to seize him were deluded, not by his real, but by his imaginary, glory. These circumstances were magically effected by evil spirits, the powers of the air, by whom the wretched multitude were supported in desert places not with real, and substantial, but by aerial, aliments. For as we have since heard from certain persons who were in his party, and who, after his capture, wandered over the world by way of penance, they might have, as often as they pleased, bread, and flesh, and fish, and every other daintier viand. Indeed, that this food was aerial, not substantial, and was supplied invisibly by the demons of air, rather to ensnare their souls than to feed their bodies, is evidenced by this, that the slightest eructation voided the repletion caused by such food, and then such insatiable hunger succeeded, that they were compelled to feed again. Moreover, whosoever approached them accidentally, and tasted even slightly of their food, lost his understanding from having participated in the table of demons, and continued inseparably with this beastly congregation; and whoever received any thing from them, of any kind, was by no means safe from danger.
It is reported that a certain knight, related to this pestilential fellow, went to him, and honestly admonished him to abjure this impious sect, and to be restored to his own family by the communion of Christian grace. Craftily deceiving the man, he showed him, in vast variety, abundance of magic wealth, in order that he might be captivated by the tempting charm of what he saw. “You are my relation,” he said, “take what you please of mine;” but this prudent man, having given his advice in vain, retired immediately to depart; his attendant, nevertheless, conceived a strong desire (though to his own destruction) to possess a hawk of singular beauty which he saw. Asking and obtaining it, he gladly followed his master, who was already departing. “Cast away instantly,” said he, “what you are carrying, for it is not a bird, as it appears to be, but a devil so metamorphosed.” The truth of his words appeared shortly after: for when the silly man rejected his advice, he first complained that the hawk gripped his fist rather strongly with his talons, presently he was lifted by the hand into the air, and soon after vanished altogether.
– History of English Affairs, William of Newburgh, 12th Century AD
