In theory, the Inquisition did not apply the death penalty, as well as confiscation. Originally the sentence was only a simple conviction for heresy, and was accompanied by excommunication or a declaration that the culprit was no longer considered within the jurisdiction of the court of the Church; sometimes it was added that he was handed over to a secular court, that "he was set free"; this meant that the direct intervention of the Church in his fate had ended. Over time, it was often mentioned in judgments that there was nothing more the Church could do to make amends for the sins of the guilty; his transfer into the hands of secular power is announced with the words: "let him be punished according to his deserts." The hypocritical appeal, in which the Inquisition implored the secular authorities to spare the life and body of the fallen, is not found in the sentences of the thirteenth century. and was never formulated precisely at a later time.
The appeal to mercy was an empty formality, they resorted to it, only so that it would not seem that the inquisitors agreed to the shedding of blood, since this would be a violation of the canons. But at the same time, the Church vigilantly watched to ensure that her resolution was not misinterpreted, and she taught that there could be no question of any leniency if the heretic did not repent and betray all his like-minded people. One of the theologians of the XIII century. proclaimed: “The purpose of the Inquisition is the destruction of heresy; heresy cannot be destroyed without the destruction of heretics; and heretics cannot be destroyed unless the defenders and supporters of heresy are also destroyed, and this can be achieved in two ways: by converting them to the true Catholic faith, or by reducing their flesh to ashes after they have been handed over into the hands of secular power. In the XIV century. Inquisitor Alonzo de Spina notes that before condemning them to destruction, you need to warn them twice so that they do not threaten peace.
Rice.
The secular authorities, however, believed that by burning heretics they were carrying out the orders of the Inquisition. In an order given on November 9, 1431, by Philip the Handsome of Burgundy to his officials, it is said that it is their duty to punish heretics "as the inquisitor prescribes and according to custom." Sprenger, an inquisitor of the 15th century, no longer hesitates to speak of the victims "which he ordered to be burned."
The Church gave absolution to all those who brought wood for the fire in order to arouse the fury of the common people. Back in the 17th century. the learned Cardinal Albizio stated: “The inquisitors in all processes usually pronounce the final sentence, and if it is a death sentence, then it is directly and necessarily carried out by the doge and the senate” (we are talking about Venice). Even in the XIII century. Gregory IX did not hesitate to assert that the Church was obliged to shed the blood of heretics. Boniface VIII introduced into canon law a reminder to secular authorities, under threat of excommunication, that all who were extradited to them by the Inquisition would be subjected to "swift and just" punishment. The inquisitors were ordered to prosecute recalcitrant officials.
The laws of all the states of Europe sentenced heretics to be burned alive; in the person of the inquisitor, they recognized the judge, whose sentences were subject to blind execution. Count Raymond of Toulouse in 1249 ordered that eighty heretics who confessed in his presence be burned alive at Berlège, near Agen.
If, however, for one reason or another, the secular authorities did not dare to execute a heretic, then the Church immediately intervened with all the power of her power to bring them into obedience. Thus, for example, the inquisitors in 1237 condemned ten men and women as heretics; the consuls and vigiers refused to “accept” the condemned, confiscate their property and “treat them as it is customary to deal with heretics,” in other words, they refused to burn them alive. Immediately, the inquisitors solemnly excommunicated officials from the Church. In 1288, Nicholas IV ordered to excommunicate and remove from office the secular authorities of many cities that evaded the execution of the Inquisition's sentences, and also to impose an interdict on their urban communities. In 1458, at Strasbourg, the burgomaster and his comrades refused at first to burn the Hussite missionary and his maid; but the Church forced them to carry out the sentence. In 1486, the city authorities of Brescia refused to burn several sorcerers and witches condemned by the Inquisition; civil lawyers tried to prove that the secular authorities had the right to familiarize themselves with the case. But Innocent VIII was not slow to announce that the desire of the city authorities of Brescia was offensive to the faith, and ordered them to be excommunicated from the Church if they did not execute the condemned within six days; every municipal law contrary to this was declared null and void. In 1521, Pope Leo X confirmed in vigorous terms to the inquisitor and episcopal judges of Venice that their sentences were to be carried out without any revision or investigation, and that they could inflict any spiritual punishment on the disobedient. The secular authorities were obliged to send them to the stake, under the threat of being classified as heretics themselves.
The unrepentant heretic, who preferred martyrdom to apostasy, was not the only victim of the fire. A heretic, also worthy of the fire, was considered the one who refused the confession extorted from him. The man whose solemn conversion was found to be false was an incorrigible heretic, and the fire demanded him.
Already in 1184, the Verona Decree of Pope Lucius III prescribed that every heretic_recidivist, that is, who fell into the same heresy after renunciation, should be extradited to secular courts even without a new interrogation. Frederick II's Edict of Ravenna, 1232, orders the death of all who again fell into heresy, whose conversion was feigned in order to avoid punishment for heresy. In 1244, the Narbonne Council mentions a large number of such cases and orders the transfer of the perpetrators to the secular authorities without a new trial. With the exception of one, all manuals for the legal proceedings of the Inquisition of the XIII century. they order heretics_recidivists to hand over into the hands of secular authorities, moreover, without any trial. Often secular judges did not pay attention to the lenient sentences of the Inquisition and burned the unfortunate victims without any mercy; in their defense, the civil authorities cited the fact that otherwise it would not be possible to cleanse the country of heretics and that indulgence would lead to an increase in heresy. In 1258, Alexander IV ordered the extradition of recidivists into the hands of secular authorities. At the same time, it was argued that the Church is by no means closed to recidivists who have brought repentance, since they can receive Holy Communion even at the stake, but even repentance cannot save them from death. The papal decision thus motivated was entered into the canon laws. In such cases, the promise to give communion at the last minute was included in the sentence, and the victim was always accompanied to the stake by clergy who tried to "save her soul."
Rice.
The imaginary or real crime of returning to heresy became from the middle of the 13th century. the most common reason for the death penalty. Heretics who desired a crown of martyrdom were comparatively rare, but there were many who could not sincerely renounce their faith and, having escaped death, hoped that they would be better able to hide their crime against the Church.
All this required a strictly legal definition of the concept of the crime of returning to heresy, when the perpetrator could not even be heard, and also to determine the degree of his guilt for the first and second crimes, the totality of which justified his condemnation as an unrepentant heretic.
There were cases when, at the first conviction, the accused remained only under suspicion without any evidence. Pope Alexander IV stated quite clearly: if the suspicion was serious, then it should be considered as legal evidence of the guilt of the accused, and therefore the accused should be convicted. If the suspicion was light, then the accused should be punished more severely than those punished for the crime for the first time, but not to apply to him the full penalties imposed for recidivists. To establish a secondary crime, it was enough if the accused entered into intercourse with a heretic or showed him some kind of friendly disposition. The condemnation of recidivists was introduced into canon law and became an inviolable law of the Church. In such cases there can be no leniency.
There was another category of criminals: those who escaped from prison or carelessly performed the penance imposed on them. According to the theory, penitents who gladly accepted penance were considered sincerely converted, but by not fulfilling it, they showed either that their conversion was insincere, or that their unstable soul again fell into old delusions. Therefore, from the very beginning they were looked upon as repeat offenders. The Council of Valenciennes, 1248, decreed that they should first be graciously admonished, after which, if they continued to disobey, they were to be treated as inveterate heretics; this decision was even sometimes included in the sentence, and those who would carelessly perform penance were threatened with the punishment determined for perjurers and unrepentant heretics. The one who escaped from prison was considered a heretic-recidivist, and he should have been burned alive without any trial. The one who converted, if he did not betray all the heretics known to him, having sworn to do so, was often considered a recidivist. A decisive refusal to perform penance was considered a sign of stubborn heresy and led straight to the stake.
The fact that a person is burned just because he believes differently than we do seems to be such a dramatic cruelty and so striking in horror that in the end they began to see it as an essential feature of the activity of the Inquisition. But it must be remembered that among the other punishments imposed by her sentences, the fire was comparatively less common. Bernard Guy during his inquisitorial activity in Toulouse (1308-1323) sent six hundred and thirty-seven heretics to the stake, not counting the sixty-seven sentences of burning the remains of dead heretics. In fact, the inquisitors sought more conversions, exposures, and confiscations than an increase in the number of martyrs. The bonfire, lit from time to time, maintained in the population the horror that was considered salutary. Prisons, mass confiscations, humiliating penances, and, finally, the invisible police, thanks to which she paralyzed the mind and heart of everyone who had the misfortune of once falling into her hands, were the main and most terrible weapon of the holy tribunal, a terrible weapon at that.
Now about the execution itself. When the crowd gathered to watch the death agony of the martyrs, they tried not to show any pity for them, so as not to soften the fanaticism of the audience. The culprit was not strangled before the wood was set on fire, as was the practice in the later Spanish Inquisition; gunpowder had not yet been invented, and therefore a bag of gunpowder was not yet tied around the neck of the victim in order to shorten his torment when the flames engulfed him. The unfortunate one was tied alive to a post that towered over a pile of firewood so high that the faithful could see everything. The monks accompanied him to the last minute in the hope of wresting, if possible, his soul from the claws of the devil; if he was not a recidivist, he could recant at the last minute and save his body. The monks were strictly forbidden to persuade the unfortunate victim to die without resistance, or to climb the scaffold with a firm step, or courageously give themselves into the hands of the executioner, because by giving such advice, they could hasten its end and thereby allow “wrongness”. Usually the execution was carried out on a holiday, so that more people could gather and so that the spectacle would be more instructive; out of fear that the victim would not arouse feelings of pity or sympathy in the audience, silence was imposed on her.
Minor details are known from the report of one witness to the execution of Jan Hus in Konstanz in 1415. The unfortunate man had to stand between two bundles of brushwood, and he was tightly tied with ropes to a thick pole; a chain was put around his neck. Then they noticed that he turned his face to the east, and since this was indecent for a heretic, he was turned to face the west. He was lined up to the chin with bundles of brushwood and straw. After that, the Count Palatine, who was watching the execution, went up to the scaffold together with the Prefect of Constance and for the last time invited Hus to abdicate. When he refused, they moved away and struck in the palm of their hands, which was a sign for the executioners to set fire to the fire. When the fire had consumed everything, they proceeded to the final destruction of the charred corpse; it was torn to pieces and broken bones, and then the remains and entrails were again thrown into the fire.
So that those present did not preserve the remains of the martyr, after the fire was extinguished, they carefully collected the ashes and threw them into running water while digging up his body or bones, then the ceremony of burning them was, of course, less solemn, but did not miss anything to make it terrible. In 1237, many corpses of noble people and other dead people were dug up in Toulouse. Their bones and decomposed corpses were dragged through the streets, with a herald walking in front and shouting: “everyone who does this will perish”, then they were burned “for the glory of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, His Mother, and blessed Dominic, their servant." This procedure, despite the fact that it was quite expensive, was maintained throughout the existence of the Inquisition. According to the reports of Arno Assali from 1323, it cost more than five livres to dig up the bones of three heretics, buy a sack for them, buy ropes to tie the sack, hire two horses to drag the sack to the square and buy firewood.
The fire also served the Inquisition in order to cleanse the country of "contagious and heretical writings"; this was the beginning of censorship, which later occupied a prominent place in the activities of the Inquisition. In 1210, an order was issued to burn the heretical writings of Amaury's student, David de Dinan, as well as Aristotle's Physics and Metaphysics. By order of James I of Aragon, translations of the Holy Scriptures were burned. The canons of the Narbonne Council of 1229 forbade the laity to have Holy Scripture. They burned the work of Wilhelm de S._Amour "Experiments". The books of the Jews, especially the Talmud, aroused particular hatred, and the Church spared no effort to destroy them. This persecution was initiated by a Jewish convert, Nicholas de Rupella, who around 1236 drew the attention of Gregory IX to the blasphemy contained in Jewish books, especially the Talmud. In June 1239, Gregory wrote to the kings of England, France, Navarre, Aragon, Castile and Portugal, as well as to the prelates of these kingdoms, ordering that on the Saturday of the next Lent, when all the Jews were in their synagogues, all their books should be seized and given to the beggars monks. In May 1248, fourteen cartloads of books were burned in Paris, and then six more. But the Talmud continued to exist. In 1255, Saint Louis again ordered in his instructions to the seneschals of the province of Narbonne that all copies of the Talmud, as well as all books containing blasphemy, be destroyed. In 1267, Clement IV ordered the Archbishop of Aragon to force the King of Aragon and his lords, under pain of excommunication from the Church, to order that the Jews give the Talmud and other books to the inquisitors. Books that do not contain blasphemy must be returned, and the rest sealed and hidden in a safe place. In 1299, Philip the Handsome orders his judges to assist the inquisitors in destroying copies of the Talmud. In 1309, four cartloads of Hebrew books were publicly burned in Paris. In 1319, two carts were needed to carry condemned books to the auto-da-fé at Toulouse. In 1554, Julius III confirmed the decree of the Inquisition: the Jews were ordered, under pain of death, to give out all books containing blasphemous references to Christ; this papal injunction was incorporated into canon law.
The methods invented and approved by the Inquisition were applied by the episcopal courts to heretics; and soon violence and arbitrariness spread to all cases within the jurisdiction of the episcopal courts. Already in 1317, the inquisitor Bernard Guy speaks of torture as a common occurrence in spiritual courts.
The influence of the Inquisition on secular legal proceedings was even more disastrous. Until the end of the XVIII century. in most of Europe, the inquisitorial jurisprudence, which had been developed for the purpose of destroying heresy, became the usual method applied to all accused. In the eyes of a secular judge, the accused was a person outside the law, his guilt was always assumed, and it was necessary to extract a confession from him at all costs by cunning or force. The same was true of witnesses. A prisoner who confessed under torture was subjected to further torture so that he would betray "other criminals" whom he might know. Likewise, the Inquisition introduced into the ordinary court the crime of "suspicion"; if it was not possible to convict the accused of the crime that was attributed to him, then he could be punished as a suspect, and the punishment was left to the discretion of the judge.
All this system generated by the Inquisition until the 18th century. gave the unfortunate and defenseless to the mercy of cruel judges. As early as 1823, a court in Martinique condemned a man to hard labor for life, because he had a "heavy suspicion" that he was a sorcerer. The Valencian "junta of faith" (under this name Ferdinand VII restored the Inquisition in Spain in 1823) on September 29, 1824, arrested the teacher Cayetano Rityul "I on charges of Judaism: he claimed that (according to the Acts of the Apostles, ch. 15 , verses 20 and 29) the essence of religion lies in the saying: “Do not do to another what you do not want them to do to you.” He languished in prison for about two years, and on August 1, 1826, he was solemnly burned at the stake in Valencia. was the last burning, it caused a storm of indignation in Europe, but the activity of religious courts was stopped only on July 1, 1835. The end of the Inquisition, which had been in force for more than six hundred years, came to an end. modes.
That of the apostates who persisted in his mistakes and did not want to return to the bosom of the Catholic Church, the one who refused to admit his mistakes and reconcile with the Church, the one who, having reconciled, again fell into heresy, that is, became a recidivist heretic, as well as a heretic convicted in absentia, and then caught - all of them were excommunicated by the Inquisition, acting on behalf and on behalf of the church, and "released to freedom."
This seemingly innocent formulation contained a death sentence for the accused. The convict was "released" in the sense that the church refused to continue to take care of his eternal salvation, that she renounced him. The “will” acquired in this way by the condemned entailed not only a shameful death at the stake, but, according to the teachings of the church, eternal torment in the other world. The punishment was unimaginably cruel, theologians admitted, but deserved for someone who refused the “motherly” guardianship of the church, preferring to serve the devil. The stubborn heretic could not count on Christian compassion, mercy, love. He was supposed to be swallowed up not in the figurative, but in the literal sense by hellfire. But the inquisitors preferred to have this dirty work done for them by civil authorities. Different authors tried to explain such scrupulousness in different ways, especially since the church - not only in the distant past, but, as we have seen, in our time - proclaims the right to punish apostates with all kinds of punishments. To consider that the inquisitors, who used sophisticated tortures on their victims, starved them to death and cold, scourged them publicly and, finally, accompanied them to the fire and forced the believers to throw armfuls of brushwood in order to make it “more fun” to burn, were embarrassed to personally execute heretics, hardly reasonable or logical.
The explanation for this should be sought in the desire of the church to turn the secular authorities into an accomplice in their crimes and at the same time demonstrate the appearance that she herself, the church, did not kill anyone, did not shed blood. And this manifested the hypocrisy and hypocrisy characteristic of the clergy. Even before the establishment of the Inquisition, the church sought to oblige secular authorities to persecute heretics. She was only partially able to achieve this and therefore organized her own repressive body - the Inquisition. However, the sinister privilege of officially pronouncing death sentences, executing and paying for the executioner was granted by the church to secular authorities.
So, if a heretic did not renounce his “false and erroneous” beliefs, then the church renounced him, released him “to freedom”, handing him over to the civil authorities with an order to punish him according to his deserts (debita animadver-sione puniendum). In later times, such appeals were accompanied by requests to show mercy to the condemned. It was manifested in the fact that a repentant suicide bomber was strangled before execution or put on his neck a “collar” stuffed with gunpowder in order to reduce the suffering of the unfortunate.
It cannot be said that the secular authorities in Catholic countries always willingly, unquestioningly and with zeal performed the punitive functions imposed on them by the Church. In many places, especially in the 13th and 14th centuries, the authorities refused for various reasons to "treat heretics as it is customary to treat them", that is, send them to the stake. The main reason for this was that blind obedience to the orders of the Inquisition turned secular power from its ally into its vassal.
Where, as in Spain and Portugal, the Inquisition was subordinated to the royal power, such a contradiction did not arise. But in France, Germany, the republics and principalities of Italy, where the church fought for dominance over secular power, the activities, or rather, the excessive strengthening of the influence of the Inquisition, constantly aroused the resistance of the secular authorities. In such cases, the papacy reacted decisively and without delay. Those guilty of failure to comply with the orders of the Inquisition, in particular, of refusing to send heretics to the stake, were excommunicated from the church, an interdict was imposed on disobedient cities, the papal throne urged believers not to pay taxes; disobey such authorities.
The assertion that the church is not authorized to extradite heretics to secular authorities and demand that they be executed by the latter was recognized by the Council of Constance as heretical and figured as the 18th count of the accusation brought against Jan Hus.
The Inquisition, as we have already noted, was more interested in the heretic's renunciation of his views than in his heroic death at the stake. “Letting aside the concern for the possibility of saving the soul,” writes H. C. Lee. “A convert betraying his associates was more useful to the church than a charred corpse; therefore, they spared no effort to achieve renunciation. Experience has shown that fanatical people often longed for torment and wished for a quick death at the stake; but the inquisitor was not supposed to be the executor of their desires. He knew that the first ardor often gave way to the action of time and torment, so he preferred to keep the stubborn heretic, alone and chained, in prison for six months or a whole year; only theologians and lawyers were allowed to see him, who were supposed to act on his mind, or his wife and children, who could incline his heart. And only then, when all efforts did not lead to anything, he was “released”, but even after that the execution was postponed for a day so that he could renounce, which, however, rarely happened, since those who had not conceded before that time usually did not give in to any persuasion" ( Lee G. Ch. History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, vol. 1, p. 341).
About how the execution of a heretic was carried out, a large number of descriptions of contemporaries have been preserved. Gradually, a peculiar ritual was developed, which the Inquisition everywhere adhered to. Usually the execution was appointed on a holiday, the population was called upon to attend it. Evasion of such an invitation, as well as manifestations of sympathy or pity for the executed, could bring suspicion of heresy. The bonfire was preceded by an auto-da-fé, arranged on the festively decorated central square of the city, where a solemn service was performed in the presence of church and secular authorities and the people, and then the verdict of the Inquisition on convicted apostates was announced.
The auto-da-fé was held several times a year, and dozens of victims of the Inquisition were sometimes executed at it. A month before it was held, parish priests informed the faithful about the upcoming auto-da-fé, inviting them to participate in it and promising an indulgence for 40 days.
On the eve of the auto-da-fé, the city was decorated with flags, garlands of flowers, balconies were decorated with carpets. A platform was erected on the central square, on which an altar was erected under a red canopy and boxes for the king or local ruler and other secular, including military and church, notables. The presence of women and children was welcome. Since the auto-da-fé sometimes lasted all day, public latrines were built near the platform, which honored guests could use in case of need.
The day before, a kind of general rehearsal of the auto-da-fé was arranged. A procession of parishioners, led by members of the congregation of St. Peter the Martyr (an Italian Dominican inquisitor from Verona, who was killed in 1252 for his atrocities by opponents of the Inquisition; was proclaimed patron of the Inquisition). The members of this congregation were engaged in the preparation of an auto-da-fe - they built a platform, prepared a "workplace" - a "brazier", where they set fire to unrepentant heretics, etc. They were followed by the "Christ's militia", that is, all the personnel of the local Inquisition with its informants-fiscals in white hoods and long robes that hid their physiognomies from human eyes. Two participants in the procession carried green ( Green color symbolized the Inquisition) the standards of the Inquisition, one of which was hoisted on the auto-da-fé platform, the other near the "brazier".
With the dawn, the prison of the Inquisition was already buzzing like a beehive. The prisoners, who had no idea about the fate prepared for them, about the degree of punishment to which they were sentenced, because only at the auto-da-fé they found out about it, the guards prepared for the upcoming triumph, or rather, execution. They were cut, shaved, dressed in clean linen, fed a hearty breakfast, sometimes for courage they were given a glass of wine. Then they threw a noose of rope around their necks and put a green candle into their bound hands. In this form, the convicts were taken out into the street, where the guards and "relatives" of the inquisitors were waiting for them. Particularly malicious heretics were planted backwards on donkeys, tied to animals. The prisoners were led to the cathedral, where a procession formed. The same people as the day before participated in it, now they carried the standards of the parishes, drawn in black cloth as a sign of mourning. The fiscals carried sanbenito and dolls, or rather mannequins, depicting dead, escaped or uncaptured heretics condemned to the stake.
The procession, whose participants sang mourning church hymns, slowly headed for the square, where the auto-da-fé was to take place. The monks and "relatives" who accompanied the prisoners loudly urged them to repent and reconcile with the church. The townspeople watched the procession from the windows of houses or from the pavement. Following the instructions of the churchmen, many of them showered abuse on the prisoners. However, it was forbidden to throw any objects at heretics, since practice showed that not only the victims of the Inquisition, but also the soldiers accompanying them from the "militia of Christ" could suffer from such throwing.
In the meantime, secular and spiritual authorities and guests gathered at the site of the auto-da-fé, taking their places in the stands allocated to them, as well as the townspeople who filled the square. There were always plenty of fans to stare at the auto-da-fé.
With the arrival of the procession, the prisoners were seated on the benches of shame, set up on a platform, somewhat lower than the honorary stands. After that, a funeral mass began, followed by a formidable sermon by the inquisitor, which ended with the announcement of sentences. The sentences were read in Latin, the prisoners had difficulty grasping their meaning, they were long, they began with quotations from the Bible and the works of the Church Fathers, and were read slowly. If there were many convicts, it sometimes took several hours to announce the verdicts.
The auto-da-fe was crowned with executions: some convicts were clothed in sanbenito and jester's caps, others were whipped, the third guards and monks were dragged to the "brazier".
The "brazier" was located on the neighboring square, where church and secular notables and ordinary citizens went after the suicide bombers. Here, the day before, a scaffold was built with a pillar in the center, to which the convict was tied; firewood and brushwood were brought in, with which the scaffold was lined. The monks and "relatives" who accompanied the suicide bombers tried at that last minute to extort renunciation from their victims. The convict could only give a sign of his desire to repent, because, fearing that he would agitate before the people in favor of heresy, he was often led to execution with a gag in his mouth.
When the fire was lit, especially respected parishioners were given the honorable right to throw brushwood into the fire, thereby increasing their virtues before the church.
Although the executioners tried to arrange a fire in such a way that it would devour the condemned without leaving a trace of him, this goal was not always achieved. In such cases, the charred remains were torn into small pieces by the executioners, the bones were crushed, and this terrible mess was again set on fire. Then the ashes were carefully collected and thrown into the river. By such a procedure, the inquisitors tried to deprive the heretics of the opportunity to enlist the remains of their martyrs and worship them.
If a person sentenced to the stake died before execution, then his corpse was burned. The remains of those who were posthumously condemned were also burned. In the Spanish and Portuguese Inquisition, it was customary to burn dolls depicting convicts (execution in efigie) at the stake. Such a symbolic execution was subjected to those sentenced to life imprisonment, as well as those who fled from prisons or from the persecution of the Inquisition of its victims.
The fire was used by the Inquisition for another purpose - the destruction of the works of apostates, non-Christians and writers objectionable to the church.
Did the Inquisition consider itself sinless, incapable of condemning the innocent, throwing an innocent person into the fire? Not at all. But “if an innocent person is unjustly convicted, he should not complain about the decision of the church, which passed its sentence based on sufficient evidence, and which cannot look into the hearts, and if false witnesses contributed to his condemnation, then he is obliged to accept the sentence with humility and rejoice in that. that he had the opportunity to die for the truth." ( Le Manuel des Inquisiteurs..., p. 151).
The question arises, Nicholas Aymeric continues to argue on the same topic, whether a believer slandered by a false witness, trying to escape the death sentence, has the right to confess to an imperfect crime, that is, to heresy, and cover himself as a result of such recognition with disgrace. First, the inquisitor explains, a man's reputation is an external good, and everyone is free to sacrifice it in order to avoid torture that brings suffering, or to save his life, which is the most precious of all goods; secondly, the loss of reputation does not harm anyone. If, Eymeric concludes, such a convict refuses to “sacrifice his reputation” and plead guilty, then the confessor is obliged to urge him to meet torture and death with humility, for which he will be prepared in the next world for the “immortal crown of a martyr.”
These arguments of Aymeric clearly testify to the criminal morality of the inquisitors and their patrons. In the end, the lawyers of the Inquisition reasoned, the "sacred" tribunal acted with God's permission and God himself bore ultimate responsibility for his actions.
The activities of the inquisitorial tribunal left an ominous imprint on the theory and practice of civil justice, from which the rudiments of objectivity and impartiality, which were still characteristic of Roman law, disappeared under its influence. As G. Ch. Lee rightly notes, until the end of the 18th century. in the greater part of Europe, the inquisitorial jurisprudence, developed for the purpose of destroying heresy, became the usual method applied to all the accused. In the eyes of a secular judge, the accused was a person outside the law, his guilt was always assumed, and it was necessary to extract a confession from him at all costs, by cunning or force.
Such was the machine of the Inquisition, engendered by the church, about whose “beneficial” influence on the destinies of society some ecclesiastical authors still write.
The Inquisition of the Catholic Church, as a body responsible for the purity of religious doctrine and having the power to search for all unrighteous thinkers, existed from 1184 to 1834.
The history of the Holy Inquisition
The Christian Church from the very beginning of its existence was subjected to various false teachings that confused the mind and consciousness of the believing people. The concept of heresy arises as a doctrine that contradicts the Holy Tradition of the Church. In heresies, the authority of the main truths of Christian doctrine was questioned.
In order to combat heretics and restore the triumph of orthodox Christianity, Ecumenical and Local Councils met. Later, after the division of the Churches in 1054, the West took a different path. Heresies still continued to exist, and heretics became more and more. In order to combat the Catholic Church with false dogmas, a special court was created to investigate the facts of the occurrence of heresies.
In 1215, Pope Innocent III founded a special body of church court, called the "Holy Inquisition". Approximately the same time coincides with the creation of the Order of the Dominicans, who were charged with the duty of inquiry in cases of false dogmas in the Catholic Church.
The history of the Inquisition spans several centuries. During this time, all of Western Europe used the services of inquisitors specially appointed by the cardinals. Such an ecclesiastical judgment inspired terror in people's minds. Those who did not have the sin of spreading heresies among the masses were also in fear.
Who was judged by the Holy Inquisition
The main purpose of the creation of the Inquisition was the struggle of the Church against heretics. In this way, she sought to protect herself from harmful heretical teachings that prevent a person from achieving salvation. As the decades progressed, the trial of heretics developed and the Catholic Church began to venture into the realm of judicial inquiry, from which many innocent people suffered.
The inquisitor interrogated a suspected heresy in the presence of several priests. In case of refusal to accept guilt, various tortures were carried out. Sometimes everything ended in death. The favorite execution of the inquisitors was burning alive at the stake. A person spreading heresy was considered a servant of the devil, and everyone tainted with a connection with demonic forces had to endure torment not only after death, but also during life. Therefore, the fire of a fire was considered as a punishment. In another interpretation, this was a necessary means of purification.
Starting from the end of the 15th century, the Inquisition began to pay special attention to the fight against witches and sorcerers. It was this time of fires and cruel executions of all those who were accused of witchcraft. It should be noted that there were also numerous false denunciations.
In addition to witches and heretics, scientists who expressed their scientific views that contradicted the teachings of the Catholic Church about the existence of the world could also be subjected to trial. History preserves the names of many bonfire victims convicted for their scientific outlook. In total, more than a million people suffered from the activities of the inquisitors. The Inquisitors had the power to burn people as they saw fit, attributing guilt to heresy, witchcraft, or a wrong world view. It wasn't until the 19th century that the Catholic Church moved away from such a terrible practice that innocent people could suffer.
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Anna went to the window, as if sensing that Eugene was about to come up. And indeed - she saw him at the gate, but he behaved strangely - he did not go into the courtyard of the maternity hospital, as if something on the street was holding him, as if some kind of force did not allow him to step over an invisible line.
A few minutes passed, and Anna guessed - Eugene was talking to someone who was standing behind the brick column of the gate and he didn’t dare to cut off the conversation, either he didn’t have the strength for it, or he simply didn’t want to cut off what was important to him talk. And then, suddenly, right before her eyes, something impossible happened - a woman came out from behind a brick column of the gate, quickly hugged Yevgeny on the go and immediately disappeared behind the second column, having managed to wave goodbye, they say, hurry up, I'll wait for you - like this about the meaning was in her swing.
And as if the world staggered under Anna. Grabbing the backs of the bed with her hands, she went to her corner and not so much sat down as collapsed on the crumpled blanket.
And then it started.
Her stomach was literally shaking, there was such an impression that a creature was tossing and turning inside her, which could hardly be called a child. Anna turned pale, and, losing consciousness, fell across the bed.
The newborn was brought an hour after birth. Some kind of shriveled senile physiognomy peeped out of the bundle and smiled disgustingly. It was impossible to call “it” a child, even with a big stretch. The revolving eyes gleamed nastily from under the washed-out cap, the rat's nose was constantly sniffing something out and turning of itself in different directions. But when he opened his displeasedly pursed, thin lips and yelled with a terribly disgusting squeak, his own mother lost her senses.
No less frightened doctors nevertheless brought the mother to her senses, put the bundle with the child on the bed and simply ran away from the ward. “It” again emitted a shrill squeak and crawled, continuously sniffing and smacking its lips. The goal was reached quickly, and he greedily dug into his chest. Champing and constantly spitting up, he began to devour mother's milk.
Nausea rose up in the nurse's throat and she made great efforts to tear this creature from her chest and run to the washbasin to get rid of the remnants of the hospital dinner.
"Go feed the baby, you vile witch!" She heard a disgruntled, irritated voice. I got to you. Now I'll take it out. You can't get away from me.
Anna looked in the direction of the speaker and froze. A newborn was sitting on the bed and with nervous movements he got out of the diapers. Bony knees stuck out in different directions. Eyes of different colors stared angrily at the woman in labor. There was a dark birthmark on his forehead.
-Who are you? - Anna squeezed out of her last strength.
- You don't admit it? Forgotten, devilish whore?! - and he, having fallen off the bed, staggered, walked towards her, waving his ugly limbs.
_______
The jailer roughly pushed Anna into the cell. She could not resist and fell face down on the threshold. The door slammed shut.
After the previous torture, which consisted of continuous walking to speed up her confessions, with sleep deprivation, she felt exhausted and weakened. In addition, a wild desire to drink did not leave his thoughts. All those terrible days that she spent in prison, she was fed only salted food. All drinks were mixed with herring brine. She was not given a sip of water to keep her in a state of constant thirst, which was one of the most sophisticated forms of torture.
But such a cruel, violent, sizzling thirst, the inquisitors did not consider torture. Even when the prisoners were crushed like grapes in a vice or pulled out like a leather skin on a rack, this was also not considered torture. The courts relied on the sadism of witch persecutors. And they were not mistaken in their expectations.
Someone invisible turned the key in the lock. The echo responded with the same rusty, raspy sound. A damp, stale smell wafted into his face. Here, even the walls seemed to be saturated with human suffering, and blood oozed from them.
She found herself in a cramped, stinking dungeon with small arched windows through which the sun barely filtered through. Through the foggy veil, the fuzzy outlines of terrifying contraptions appeared. A prisoner on charges of witchcraft understood where she was.
Suddenly harsh voices made her shudder.
“Because you do not understand our benevolent attitude, you were brought to the torture chamber,” the judge muttered in a disgusting drawl.
“This kind person,” the judge pointed with feigned courtesy in the direction of the person who heated the tongs on an open fire, “will save your sinful soul. If you continue to remain silent and indulge the demons, he will have to apply everything that you see here to you.
The judge nodded to the clerk, who was seated at a table in the corner of the cell, -
-Let's get started. How long have you been a witch?
-I'm not a witch.
-Don't be persistent! - the judge leaned under the table and pulled out a wooden box. - Here is the same box, locked with three locks, into which parishioners threw notes for fifteen days. And your name, with the facts, places and times of sorcery, is extremely common in it. According to public opinion, you are suspected of witchcraft. Thus, the accusation is proven.
- Who accuses me?
“No one will tell you that, so that you don’t harm honorable people with your damned deeds. But what they are accused of - you are obliged to know and confess during interrogation.
- I have nothing to confess.
- Refresh your memory! Didn't you sign a pact with the devil?! Declared submission to him. Renounce the vows given before the Lord?! For this alone you must die!
These accusations do not apply to me.
- For the sake of retribution to the Lord and man, you harmed people and animals with your curses, on which you caused misfortunes and diseases with the help of the power and activity of the devil, your master.
- I have no enemies to curse them.
Whether you confess or not, the result will be the same. Your guilt is obvious - you will be executed. Any renunciation is in vain. The torture will continue - twice, thrice, four times. To infinity. You can't justify. That's not why we arrested you and put you in chains. Your guilt will be proven.
By any means ... - the judge neighed vilely, exchanging glances with his accomplices.
-You will be in prison filth and stench, given to the ghosts of the devil and endure endless torture until you prefer death to this disgusting existence and confession to all crimes.
“Time to get started,” the Inquisitor said dryly. Her silence is caused by devilish spells.
The long-awaited executioner began his usual work.
To begin with, he undressed her and the participants in the interrogation began to examine the body in order to detect the stigma of the devil. They quickly found what they were looking for. The desired “object” was hidden under the knee with a small birthmark.
- How long has the witch mark been on your body? the inquisitor asked.
- Since birth. Only it's not a witch's mark.
“This stigma is evidence enough that you could be executed for witchcraft even without your confessions,” the inquisitor flashed with his knowledge of witch trials.
There were many of them behind his backbone. Their heartbreaking screams, screams and curses. Anna was about to experience everything. This was just the beginning. She stood naked in front of these non-humans and burned with shame and dishonor, under their longed-for looks. But very soon she forgot about her nakedness. The torture that followed made her forget everything.
With a rope attached to a hook on the ceiling, the executioner tied her hands behind her back, then lifted her into the air, sharply pulling the end of the rope. For greater effect, he tied a weight to her legs to twist her shoulder joint without leaving a trace of rough handling.
While she was held in a hanging position, the inquisitors tried to continue the interrogation again. Interrupting and not hearing each other.
- How did you become a witch, what happened to you in connection with this?
-I'm not a witch.
-What was your master's name among the evil demons?
- I did not have such owners. It wasn’t!” Anna screamed in despair.
- Lying, you devilish spawn! - the inquisitor hit her in the face, and then, grabbing her hair, glared at her with his crazy eyes. And Anna noticed again - his eyes were of different colors.
What is the flying salve you use on your broom made of? - The Inquisitor pulled her hair harder, approached her face even closer, breathing the fetid fumes of daily "communions". - Your persistence will lead you to the fire. But if you confess everything, you will be pardoned. Tell me, what demons and other people participated in the Sabbat?
- I was not at the Sabbath. I don't know the people who participate in them.
- How do you manage to fly through the air, and what magic words do you whisper while doing this?
- I can't fly through the air. Except in dreams.
“Their dreams are reality,” the judge joined in the interrogation. Tell us, in your dreams, who you have chosen as your incubus / roommate /. What was his name?
- I don't have a roommate. All the more so, - even overcoming the ever-increasing pain, Anna blushed.
- Lying, you fucking bitch. What oath were you forced to pronounce to him? What did your incubus give you after intercourse with you?
- I don't know anything, what you're asking me about!
-Go on, the inquisitor said indifferently, turning to the executioner.
The executioner activated the diabolical hanging machine and loosened the rope. The victim was thrown from a height, so that it did not reach several centimeters to the floor. The bones cracked. Anna screamed in unbearable pain.
“The twisting of the hands was successful,” the executioner joked.
"But that's not enough for her," the inquisitor concluded.
The executioner doused her head with alcohol and set fire to her hair. The cell was filled with the acrid smell of burnt hair and the screams of the victim.
"It's time for us to rest," the inquisitor suggested wryly. Her hair smells disgusting. It's impossible to be here.
"Indeed, let's go out to dinner," the others agreed.
They left it hanging for three to five hours.
They returned rested, cheered up after drinking a bottle and ready for new exploits. The inquisitor had the strength to joke. Passing by the hanging Anna, he scratched her behind the ear like a cat.
- Well, how is our witch? Subdued? Will we talk?
She spat in his face with hatred. Despite the inhuman suffering, she still found the strength to resist.
- Ah, y-t-you. D-stuff! - from the anger that gripped the inquisitor, he began to stutter and become covered with scarlet spots.
- All the most terrible torture. All! To she is not something to spit. To not be able to breathe! - The playful mood of the tyrants vanished. And the preliminary torture took on a more violent character. To cause torment as retribution.
The executioner removed red-hot tongs from the fire and squeezed her fingers to the base of her nails so that the flattened fingers caused the most acute pain. Anna burst into a wild cry. A flock of startled pigeons flew up from the prison roof.
The executioner took her off the hook. She hoped it was over. But she was gravely mistaken. Now she was awaiting water torture. She was tied to a chair. Rags twisted into a knot were forcefully inserted into her throat and the executioner's assistant began to pour water down her throat to cause suffocation. Then he sharply pulled out a rag so that the insides were torn.
The judges watched the torture, and the clerk wrote everything down.
But in the end, the executioner, who was not new to the effectiveness of various types of torture, applied a reliable, effective method.
He sat her on a chair, into which nails were driven and knives were stuck with their sharp ends up. All of a sudden, this butcher hit this chair so hard that it was punctured and bruised.
Anna fainted. The executioner was not concerned about the responsibility for death during torture, his instructions said that witches feigned signs of death. They cannot be trusted. He had one desire - to continue the torture as soon as possible.
Manic passion inflated in his perverted brain more and more variations of torment. In his field, he was a virtuoso, an improviser and, no matter how wild it sounds, a master of his craft. Therefore, in order to continue to enjoy his “work”, he poured ice water on the face of his victim and poured vinegar into the nostrils.
The emaciated girl opened her eyelids for a moment, looked around the damp chamber with a blurred gaze, and again fell into oblivion. The craftsman repeated the "treatment". He grabbed her by the leg and dragged her along the floor to the next instrument of torment. He placed a pair of boots on her feet, placing them close to the fire until the boots heated up to force her to confess to the increasing pain. Anna regained consciousness (as far as it was, of course, possible), but she could no longer resist and endure it. She asked for mercy.
- What am I supposed to confess? - she squeezed out with the last of her strength.
- In everything. You already know. And you will repeat at the execution that you die with repentance and renounce the demon. The endlessly repeated torture brought the interrogated woman to a state in which she was ready to confess to everything that was demanded of her. And don't retract your testimony until the very end.
The girl could not stand it and screamed - Yes, I have committed so many sinful deeds. I have no excuse. I killed people... I drank the blood of murdered children from a flask, expressed respect to the domestic spirit, let in storms, pestilence, diseases, met with an incubus.
“Here, in more detail,” the inquisitor grinned nastily, looked at the executioners conspiratorially. “All witches talk that they don’t get such pleasure with a man as they do with an incubus. Do you think so too?
- We made air trips to devilish dances, - frightened Anna was ready to say anything, just to avoid the next savage tortures.
The judge, following the example of the inquisitor, lustfully stared at the prisoner,
- Yes, the witches, in fact, talk that nothing on earth compares to him. And I think this happens for several reasons. First, it happens because demons pretend to be deeply in love with witches, which for these vicious, stupid women seems to be the most precious thing in the world. In addition, evil spirits take on an unusually attractive appearance.
- The demon and the bough selects the appropriate ones for himself, - the judge cut in.
- Yeah... And, secondly, he has... - here the executioners looked at each other and neighed disgustingly, - however, you understand...
So what did he do to you?
“He did whatever he wanted with me,” the frightened captive whispered.
“Then come here, you devilish bitch… Now you and I will also do whatever we want.” You'll find out what it's like to be with the Inquisitors.
- Better campfire!
- There will be a fire ... Later ... In the meantime, there will be what will be!
_ You are the devil! I understand! You are the devil!
“Finally, you recognized me… But not completely… Now you recognize me more,” the inquisitor snorted, fiddling with his cassock. “We'll meet again, we'll meet again,” he muttered already in half-consciousness, not even trying to wipe the viscous drool from his chin. She breathed in the stench, thick inhuman hair from the inquisitor's armpits.
Anna lost consciousness. And the last thing she saw was a black birthmark that crossed the forehead of the rapist. And he muttered something completely meaningless ...
- You remembered me... You remembered me well... The time will come - you will give birth to me... Or I will emerge from your womb...
- And you? Anna asked from the other side of life.
-And I'll burn you... For you... We'll meet again...
Now you've made your confessions. If you deny everything again - tell me about it now, while I'm around, - the executioner neighed nastily, and released her from his disgusting grasps, licking his greasy lips, - so that I hang you again. And if you recant again tomorrow or the day after tomorrow or before the trial, you will again fall into my hands, and then you will know that I was only playing with you. I will torment and torture you so that even a stone will cry with pity.
***
- With the help of diabolical art, this woman fraudulently practiced, used and applied various immoral and vicious deeds called witchcraft, spells, conspiracies and sorcery. Which she admitted at the preliminary investigation.
- In exchange for recognition, I was promised pardon, and death, if I deny witchcraft! I've never been to a sabbath! I am not a witch! Not a witch! Have pity on me! - from prolonged torture and humiliation, Anna's legs buckled, and she collapsed to the floor like a stone.
- Not a single person has yet been brought before the court, who, having the stigma of the devil, would lead an impeccable lifestyle. The stigma is the highest proof of guilt! Not a single one of those convicted of witchcraft was without a brand. And he marked this witch with a special sign - the judge, like a predatory beast, abruptly rushed to the girl and, lifting her skirts, began to poke a hooked finger on a birthmark under her knee,
- In order to bind stronger bonds for more blasphemy and betrayal, he put his seal on her body, as a sign that she belongs to him.
- He marked it with the sign of a bat. Your servant! Do you see? - Bat! Burn! Burn this fiend!
The judge delivered his angry speech and, exhausted, flopped into the judge's chair. At first, a dissatisfied roar went through the hall, awakened by separate cries of agreement with the court. But pretty soon the restrained murmur turned into an angry roar of the crowd.
- Burn it! Burn the witch bitch!
The indignation of the dirty crowd did not subside. On the contrary, it intensified, turning into a roar of hungry animals that felt the blood of exhausted prey. At any moment, this pack was ready to rush at the girl and tear her to pieces. Not satiated with it, they could tear each other with the same self-forgetfulness and for some time satisfy the endless thirst for sacrificial blood.
Ugly, shaggy women twisted their shapeless mouths and made terrible grimaces, spat and poked their fingers in her direction.
- She gave our men a witch's potion! - some squealed.
- She seduced our sons with love spells - others supported them.
- Witch! Dirty fucking whore! To the fire! To the fire!
The ugly men waved their fists, shook the air, and also longed for execution.
- Into the fire! Into the fire of this proud harlot!
They could not forgive her for rejecting their obscene advances.
Only one person in this room remained silent. He was silent and could not raise his eyes to her. And he could neither accuse nor defend. Was there indifference in this, thanks to which all crimes are committed? Ordinary cowardice? Or he couldn't forgive her either. Forgive her for loving him. And what he loved (as far as he, of course, could love). And the fact that he was afraid of her all-destroying love.
But, be that as it may, he was silent ...
But everyone who came to this hall of shame had something to hate her and demand death for. People do not forgive if a person has at least one wonderful property that they do not have, but would like to. It can be beauty, health, youth, wealth, or an exceptional mind and soul. Here is the real reason for the accusations.
And there may not be anything obvious, but something weightless, elusive nevertheless indicates to them - different, not like everyone else. And there is a terrible desire to lower to their level.
And if it doesn't work, destroy it.
Peck.
And pounce like a crow.
And they tear.
A person is not forgiven for a different opinion. The desire of the crowd is to trample anyone who thinks otherwise. Don't you dare rise above us, the crowd says. Do not think that you are higher, more worthy than marked. And if you are marked, then by the devil! – and the crowd rages. And rumors are accepted as evidence of guilt.
The notion of a witch as an ugly old woman on a broomstick is just part of folklore. In reality, and this is an irrefutable historical fact, the situation is different. During the three hundred years of the Inquisition, the young, the beautiful, and the daring were more often accused. This is what brought many women to the stake.
1450-1750 period of witchcraft hysteria in Europe. Around 1600 Boge described his impressions as follows: “Germany is completely occupied with the construction of fires for / witches /. Switzerland was also forced to wipe out many of its villages. A traveler in Lorraine can see thousands and thousands of pillars. To which witches were tied.
These legalized murders set back the development of civilization for several centuries. And there is no end to this. In any century.
But the main thing is that the fires of the Inquisition are still blazing. And to this day, the best of us burn in them...
And still!
Yes, they do not smoke, they do not stink of burnt human flesh, they do not carry burnt hair. They smell like luxury perfumes. People on the crosses - with charming smiles and seem to be well dressed ...
But they are at the stake!
They burn and the same crowd is seized with the same hatred!
They burn out. And they know it.
And we know it.
Human envy and hatred is the true cause of all wars, misfortunes and innumerable bonfires of the Inquisition that cannot be extinguished for thousands of years. Poverty stifles decency, the human mind is reduced to complicity in meanness, and base passions are covered with piety. And there is no greater pleasure for them than to find flaws in their neighbors.
Great in spirit, in deeds, in being. History has many examples of the transformation of a human being into the worst animal in existence.
Unfortunately…
________
On the day appointed for the trial, Anna was brought in on a cart, with chains all over her body. His hands were tied so tightly that blood oozed from them. Around her were jailers and executioners, behind her were armed guards.
Various people gathered in the judges' room waiting for entertainment. But in one they were the same - Everything that was supposed to happen here was just innocent fun for them.
Finally, the judge came out with assistants. Importantly sat down in the judge's chair. At his sign, a prisoner was brought in. She was no longer the blooming cheerful girl that she was before prison. A pale, emaciated creature with a dull, indifferent look entered the hall. The crowd began to whistle furiously and swear, but at a sign from the chief assessor fell silent.
The judge undertook to read the indictment in the case of witchcraft and sorcery.
- Common law establishes that a witch cannot be condemned to death except on the basis of her own confession. Therefore, the court is obliged to clarify with the prisoner. Does she confirm what she confessed to during interrogations and signed with her own hand?
The guard pushed Anna in the back with his sword. “Don't sleep,” he growled roughly.
-Yes. I agree with everything,” she replied to the hall. And added mentally, - Now with everything.
- So, we can continue, - not even trying to hide his joy, rubbing his hands, as the judge said after a job well done,
- So ... - Based on the testimony of informants and the confessions of the accused herself, the court proved her guilt in causing damage and damaging people in seven ways:
By suggestion of love, suggestion of hatred, inducing impotence, inducing disease, deprivation of life, deprivation of reason, damage to property and animals. All of these actions are a manifestation of evil, since they were committed contrary to the teachings of the church and our Lord and imply the service of Satan. Guilt has been proven in atrocities by causing storms, storms, bad weather on the sea and land, killing livestock and causing anxiety to men, women and children, destroying crops, poisoning the air, causing strange passions and bodily torments in people and other creatures.
Such crimes correspond to crimes against the Lord, and according to the theory adopted by the church, a detailed Covenant with the Devil. The jurors in the name of the reigning king and queen for committing these ungodly acts, called witchcraft and sorcery, decided that you should be sentenced to be burned at the stake of the Great Inquisition!
The judge raised his hand for silence.
- Is there anyone among you who disagrees with the verdict? Is there a person who can say a kind word about the convict?
The angry roar of the crowd was his answer.
Only one person did not shout or curse her at that moment - Eugene. He was just silent. Without lifting your eyes, without raising your head. He never dared to raise his hand and utter a single word.
Having finished reading the sentence, the judge broke his rod and ordered the executioner to carry out his orders.
The jubilant crowd, as was customary, overturned the tables and chairs in the judges' room. And a procession, led by a group of men with an executioner, dragged Anna to the place of execution, then the priests followed, accompanied by women. On the way to the square, the procession sang the psalms “May the Heavenly Father be with us” and prayed. And their evil wolf cubs got a vacation to witness the death of a witch and throw stones at her.
Church bells rang like they were wrapped in damp cloth. And only in this ringing sounded unearthly sadness.
_______
The bonfire was built from raw wood so that the torture would last as long as possible and prolong the torment. As Anna was led to the platform, the choir accompanied her with the hymn "Now we pray to the Holy Spirit."
. The verdict, which she had been forced to agree to for the last time, was read again so that she would not be taken back to prison to continue the torture. One of the priests delivered a sermon as cold as his colorless eyes. After all these procedures necessary for a humane court, the victim was officially and legally transferred into the hands of her last executioner.
Anna was tied to a pillory. The fire did not flare up for a long time. Volunteers threw dry brushwood, and the fire instantly flared up. Now she could not be afraid of the threats of the executioners. They won't get it here. And she had nothing to lose. Everything she had, believed in and hoped for, she lost. And so, without regret, she surrendered herself to the sizzling fire. engulfed in flames spoke,
“Let all who see me today know that I must now die as a witch on the basis of my own confession. And I forgive everyone guilty in my blood, I take everything upon myself. Let my blood spill on my head. And since I now have to stand before the Lord, I declare that I am free from witchcraft, like a child. But, on the accusation of vicious people, I was placed in prison under the name of a witch. Everything I've confessed to is a lie.
I never thought that with the help of torture a person can be brought to the point that he would tell tall tales like the ones I told you. By subjecting me to these unbearable torments, you forced me to give false testimony under oath.
I'm not a witch, and I've never seen a devil! Everyone renounced me, and not finding any other way to break out of prison or ever restore my good name, at the instigation of the devil, I made this confession with the intention of ending my life, tired of it. I would rather die than live.
The fire grew stronger and brighter. Anna's prayer was heard through the crackling of the burning logs, interrupted by her tears. She read "Our Father", and high flames wrapped around her camp and swallowed deeper and deeper into their insatiable mouths. And finally swallowed up.
And the people, as usual, thirsted for bread and circuses. He received both in full. The witch burned to a handful of ashes. And the bread... Each participant in the process received a few coins from the confiscated property of the victim.
And these cold pieces of iron did not burn anyone's hands ...
Got a few coppers and Eugene..
_______
- Vera, go to the second ward as soon as possible. You have some kind of seizure girl there!
- What else happened there? - Vera asked her colleague displeasedly, chewing her sandwich.
-Complete nonsense! I have never seen such touched people. She hides in a corner, does not approach the child, refuses to feed, screams that he is an executioner. And in general, it carries such nonsense that I have never heard of it.
You are stupid and your jokes are stupid.
- Yes, you are! Get to her already. And then, the hour is not even, he will lay hands on himself. You will still answer for a psycho. In the meantime, I'll call the psychiatric hospital.
You be careful there! You never know what ... - she called after her.
Faith did not stay in the ward - it flew out like an arrow.
- Irka! It is something! I got scared myself. The baby would be taken away. Maybe you can go there. I this, this... I'm afraid of the insane. What to do with them? And if it didn't do any harm to the baby.
- I won't go there either. Move the phone to me.
-Ale-e. Psychiatric? It's the hospital that worries you...
- Are you kidding? - answered at the other end of the wire.
- Yes, what jokes! Leave urgently. Our mother in labor has lost her mind.
- Came to you like this?
-Well no. She acted like she was normal. And now my mind has gone. How she gave birth
and ... that. Wow, that means. Yes, you should leave soon. Grab the nurses stronger, the patient can be violent. Everything, we are waiting.
- Well, Irka, you give her a stronger nurse. Dead.
- I don't see anything funny. I didn't call for myself. I don't need it yet. A bit later.
- Are you sure?
- Come on, you stupid woman. Did you close the door?
- Not…
- Go close, away from sin. Well her.
Vera took a weighty bunch of keys and went to close the unusual patient. As if through a minefield, she went this short way - from the table of the nurse on duty to the ward. Closed. She sighed in relief and returned with a sense of accomplishment.
- All closed. You know, Ir. As soon as I got there, I was thrown into a fever. Terribly there... Next to her. Maybe it's really dirty...
- Come on. Learned person. I took the Hippocratic Oath...
- Not Hippocrates, but Hippocrates. Ignoramus. I didn’t swear anything to Hippocrates, I didn’t promise anything.
- Even big and clean?
- Irka, you should have worked in a circus, not in a maternity hospital.
- What's the difference? I don't see much difference. Take even today. Well, why not a circus?
More nurses are coming. If such as I ordered by phone, then I will change the job. Definitely!
-And here they are.
- Well, freaks. I'm staying here. Just gorillas. Dream - do not wave away.
-And if they fall asleep next to each other ... Two from the casket.
- Pip on your tongue.
- What's wrong with you girls? croaked one of the approaching gorillas in a bass voice.
Vera handed them the keys, - Go see for yourself.
______
Have you seen our new patient? - a young sister called Mila from a neighboring box.
- Yes, the head physician says - an exceptional case. And the brain is a dark matter and is not subject to research.
- Such an interesting girl. They say she was fine. What can happen in such a short time?
- I was talking to a friend of hers. She came to visit our prisoner.
-Yes? So what?
- She says the man took her on a spree. Bastard. His wife is pregnant, and it is for women. I hate them all. The bottoms are cheap.
- How did she know?
- Who is she? Friend?
- No, Anna.
- He came to the maternity hospital, allegedly to congratulate on the birth of his son. He handed over banal flowers, fruits and left. With another.
- Were they hugging, kissing?
- Not. They just walked along.
- So maybe this is a friend, what is it?
Anna didn't think so. Here's the roof off. It's you who are still inexperienced and gullible.
- Maybe it's better. But with the head everything will be all right. Why didn't she talk to him?
- He does not want to believe, although he tried to justify himself. But the girl does not believe and that's it. When you truly love, betrayal can neither be forgotten, nor forgiven, nor justified.
- What about people? So they celebrate weddings with diamonds and tell that everything in life was - both good and bad and very bad ...
- It's not love. Yes, life. Common houses, children and the like. They endure, get used to and pull the strap. It's not clear, though, why?
And real life flashes by like flower meadows behind dusty glass
fast train.
- Yes, it's sad... I hope this doesn't happen to me.
- Hope, baby. Hope. Hope, you know, is the last to bend. Although... For some, Love dies last. And these sad-looking knights become guests of our clinic. We are losing the best people!
_______
In the morning, Evgeny was awakened by a phone call. They called from the clinic.
- Are you ready to pick up your wife today?
-Yes of course.
But first we need to talk. Can you come by eleven?
- Yes, as you say.
- Waiting for you. See you soon.
The head physician noticed Yevgeny from the windows of the clinic. Once again, he wondered how such a beauty fell for this nondescript and worthless little man. He does not hold his gaze, his little eyes run. No inner strength. Will sell for a penny. What could attract her to him?
Maybe there really is some kind of karmic connection between people. Unpaid debts from past lives overtake us in the next. And maybe much of what is found within these walls is not a painful deviation of the psyche, but reality. Another reality. Perhaps there is a parallel linking events, centuries, universes, after all.
-Yes, - once again said the doctor, the luminary of medicine in psychiatry,
-The human brain is a dark matter and is not subject to research. And all our "candidate" - up to one place.
He went out to meet Yevgeny in the corridor so as not to delay communication with him, as if he were sitting on leather sofas in his office.
Your wife has postpartum depression, with all the consequences ... Manic-depressive psychosis and a host of other little-studied mental disorders. And, as I know, not without your participation, - the doctor looked reproachfully at Anna's husband.
This often happens with especially impressionable natures. The condition has now stabilized, but relapses are not ruled out. I recommend not to cause strong emotions of any kind in her, no matter negative or positive. Any feelings are dangerous in the borderline state of the psyche. I ask you to keep her from emotional shocks, it will do good. And, more... The doctor took Evgeny by the elbow and took him aside.
Switching to a whisper, he added, “I want to warn you that Anna has a painful impressionability. If you really love your wife, and don't want it to end in chronic schizophrenia, don't do it again.
This is a tragedy for any woman, but especially for yours. She perceived the betrayal as the fires of the Inquisition. Everyone feels it differently.
Who is more, who is less. Some won't notice at all. She was on fire. For her, it was a harsh reality.
Of course, in some moments I can understand you as a man. But not in all.
Far from all…
In her position, you were obliged not to take such rash steps. At least it's mean. I think we understand each other?
Yevgeny, ashamed, lowering his eyes, tried to smile, but an absurd, flawed grimace came out.
-Oh sure. I will follow all your recommendations.
-Then all the best. Goodbye.
The doctor did not even shake Yevgeny's outstretched hand, and with a sweeping gait went off into the distance along the corridor.
The nurses took Anna out the door of the clinic, and when they saw that they were waiting for her, they hastily said goodbye and left. She paused on the steps of her last residence and looked at Yevgeny. There was no interest in her eyes, there was pain in her eyes. She desperately wanted to remember something. Some terrible pictures of memories were, it seemed, very close ... But no, and this time they did not break into consciousness. Maybe a little later. The visions disappeared, and she again saw Eugene with downcast eyes.
But he couldn't see it.
Eugene stood with his eyes downcast. And he could not lift them, could not look at her with a pure, true look. He…
Yes Yes Yes. Of course.
He stood silent...
He has been silent for five hundred years.