Nicholas Eymeric, Papal Inquisitor of Aragon

Papal Inquisitor Nicholas Eymeric (1320-1399) was instrumental in the relaxation of torture regulations, circumventing "the prohibition of repetition by allowing its continuation at a later time." A Catalan Dominican, in 1376 Eymeric wrote an inquisitorial manual called Directorium Inquisitorium. This work read like a scholastic disputation, and was a forerunner of the Malleus Maleficarum.

In Directorium Inquisitorium, he pointed out three types of witchcraft:

  1. "The witchcraft of those who practise Devil-worship, making sacrifices, prostrating themselves, singing prayers, lighting candles and burning incense, etc."
  2. "The witchcraft of those who merely respect the devils and mention them in litanies along with the saints, asking for their intercession with God."
  3. "The witchcraft of those who summon up devils by tracing magical signs, by placing a child in the middle of a circle, by using a sword or a mirror."

Eymeric firmly believed that all forms of demon conjuration and Satanic pacts were to be condemned. Before this, it had been popularly believed that even saints would occasionally sign pacts with demons and devils for the greater good of humanity. St. Theophilus signed one such contract with the Devil and gained magical powers as a result (Baroja 92)(Levack 32, 33, 74).


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Nicholas Eymeric, Papal Inquisitor of Aragon copyrighted 1996-1998 to Shantell Powell.

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