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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
lord_n	abbey_n	abbot_n	see_v	25	3	3.5566	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A16950	A true discourse, vpon the matter of Martha Brossier of Romorantin pretended to be possessed by a deuill. Translated out of French into English, by Abraham Hartvvel.; Discours veritable sur le faicte de Marthe Brossier. English.	Marescot, Michel, 1539-1605, attributed name. aut; Pietre, Simon, ca. 1525-1584, attributed name. aut; Le Bouthillier, attributed name. aut; Hartwell, Abraham, b. 1553.	1599 (1599)	STC 3841; ESTC S113238	24,481	52

the sinew of true wisedome and the Apostle forbiddeth vs to beleeue euery Spirit The faith of Christians is greatly commended but the credulitie of Magicians is much reprehended as being so great that it taketh away beliefe from all things and is the cause that by beleeuing euery thing though neuer so absurd in the end men will no more beleeue any thing at all Credulous Antiquitie hath bin deceiued by the delusions of Deuils and drawne to superstition and idolatrie but Christian Religion hath been alwaies contrarie to such deceits to the end that the honor of the true God and sinceritie of faith might be preserued And this was the cause that by the craft and subtiltie of the Deuill Christians had an euill report and were by these Sorcerers and Deceiuers expelled when they went about to work any of their delusions for then would they cause to bee proclaimed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Foorth Christians Faith is a sure and certeine way to come to veritie saluation and wisedome but too great credulitie is the path that leadeth headlong to falsehood fraud follie and superstition This difference of faith and credulitie may bee shewed by many examples of ancient times but there is none of them more worthie to bee written and knowne in these daies then the Historie of Martha Brossier of Romorantin pretended to bee possessed with a Spirit Many Prelates Diuines and Phisitians all of them acknowledging according to the Christian Faith that wicked Spirits doe enter into the bodies of men and that by the commaundement and word of God they are cast out haue by a diligent obseruation of all her signes and actions discouered the cousonage and counterfeiting of this woman and haue made their report thereof to the Parliament the true Protector and Defender of Pietie and Iustice. Other Diuines Religious persons and Phisitians there were which either through credulitie or to follow the opinion of the people or for some other reason haue said and assured that there was a wicked Spirit in the bodie of this woman challenging al others for Infidels and Atheists which should thinke or say that this woman was not a Daemóniake The Parliament by a solemne Decree of the Court hath confirmed the iudgement of the better and wiser sort and set downe an order that this credulitie and superstition should proceede no further to the detriment and hinderance of the Catholike Religion But to the end that there may rest no scruple or doubt in weaker mindes and that such a cousinage may be knowne to all the world we haue briefly and truly written the whole Historie we haue proued the said Martha not to haue been a Daemóniake wee haue faithfully described the opinion and reasons of those which thought the contrarie following therein the Original-writing of their owne hands word for word and haue withall confuted their arguments as being grounded vpon too light coniectures We doe hope that those which shall reade this discourse will receiue pleasure and profit thereby and con them thankes that without fearing the slaunder of euill speakers and looking to none other marke but onely to the trueth it selfe haue resisted and made warre against the Author of lyes and that they will likewise giue thankes to God who hath discouered this cousonage whereupon there might otherwise haue followed not onely false miracles but also great diuision and parts-taking among the people as by the discourse ensewing all men of vnderstanding may know On Tuesday the xxx of March 1599. at the commandement of the right Reuerend the Bishop of Paris there met together Marescot Ellain Hautin Riolan and Duret within the Abbie of Saint Geneuesua in the hall of my Lord Abbat where was brought before them one Martha Brossier who they said was possessed of a wicked Spirit and this was in the presence also of the said Lords the Bishop and the Abbat and many other persons of Note By the commandement of the said Lord Bishop Marescot as the ancientest of the rest questioned with her in Latin for the rumour went that she spake all manner of languages but she answered not a word Then said the Abbat She will not answer vnlesse my Lord Bishop commaund her Then the Bishop commaunded the Deuill to speake saying Adiuro te per Deum viuum vt respondeas Dommo Marescoto I adiure thee by the liuing God that thou answere Master Marescot But both the woman and the Deuill were mute She was againe questioned withall in Latin by Marescot the Phisitian and in Greeke by Master Marius Doctor of Diuinitie and the Kings Reader of Greeke Philosophie but she answered not a word Then the Bishop being very desirous and curious to discouer the trueth because the said Martha had said that this was no place to answere in commaunded that she should be caried into a Chappell Wherein a number of Tapers being lighted one Priest accompanied with two others all apparelled in decent and Priestly garments in the presence of the said Lord Bishop and the Abbat and many other persons of qualitie all being together in great deuotion and at their praiers began to exorcise her She being vpon her knees praying to God and making the signe of the Crosse presently tumbled her selfe backward first vpon her buttocks then vpon her backe and vpon her shoulders and then softly vpon her head Whilest she lay vpon her back fetching her breath very deepe and quaking in her flankes like a horse after he hath runne she turned her eyes in her head blared out her tongue and tolde the Bishop that he had not his Miter and bid him that he should goe and fetch it Then they caused certen Reliques of the very true Crosse to bee brought vnto her which she indured to be put in her mouth They presented also vnto her a Doctors whood which shee stoutly reiected as though the whood of a Diuine or the Miter of a Bishop had more vertue and more Diuinitie in them then the Reliques of the very Crosse. These things being done and many other which would bee to no purpose to rehearse the Lord Bishop commaunded that the Phisitians would tell him what they thought of it Who after that they had maturely deliberated together and considered all that they thought fit to bee considered reported to the Bishop with the consent of them all and by the mouth of the said Marescot the ancientest of them all what their opinion was and that in few words Nihil à Daemone Multa ficta Amorbo pauca Nothing of the Deuill Many things counterfeited and a few things of sicknesse And indeed all these actions were counterfeit as hereafter shall be shewed But in trueth her tongue was red and they perceiued some little rumbling vnder her short ribs on the left side proper to those that are subiect to the Spleene The day following which was Wednesday the last day of March Ellain and Duret met together and when the Exorcismes or Coniurations were againe repeated

vnto vs in the Chappel of my Lord of Saint Genenefue hearing Masse there celebrated by my Lord the right Reuerend Bishop of Paris and induring the Exorcisme performed on the Friday by Father Benet a Capuchine assisted therein by Father Seraphin a Religious person of the same Order who had exercised her vpon the daies aforesaid and on the Saturday by Master Clerk a Lay Priest assisted by Father of the Order of the Feuillans And there during the said time we saw her sometimes in constitution countenance and speech as a person sound of bodie and minde and sometimes dissigured with diuerse foule vnseemely and deformed lookes and now and then vexed and troubled with many different and furious motions of all the visible parts of her body All the said euill fauoured lookes being either full of a kinde of scoffing deceitfull and consining laughter or very fierce horrible and silent and oftentimes accompanied for the most part with a roaring In the middest of all this sometimes obeying and answering the Priest aswell in gesture as in words vpon commandements and demaunds that were conceiued in Greek Latin and English but as farre as wee did marke more often and more readily to Father Benet then to any other we do say in our consciences and certifie that which followeth That is to say as it may be that all this which is before set downe remaining to bee specified hereafter must necessarily be referred to one of these three causes which are Sicknesse Counterfeiting or Diabolicall possession And for the opinion that it proceeded of Sicknesse we are cleerely excluded from that for that the agitations and motions which we obserued therein doe retaine nothing of the nature of Sicknesses no not of those Diseases whereunto at the first sight they might haue been resembled it being neither an Epilepsie or Falling Sicknesse which alwaies supposeth the losse of sense and iudgement nor the Passion which we call Hysterica or Suffocation of the Matrix which neuer is either without vtter priuation or at least without restraint of breath of which accidents neuer did there any appeare vnto vs. But to the end we be not too long and by excluding generalities to exclude lik●wise all specialties to him that shall looke neere into the matter these motions aforesaid being found not to appertaine to any of the foure motions proceeding of Diseases that is to say Shiuering Trembling Panting and Conuulsion Or indeede if there doe appeare any Conuulsions and that a man will so call the turning vp of her eyes the gnashing of her teeth the writhing of her chaps which are almost ordinarie with this maid while she is in her fits the confidence which the Priest hath when he openeth her mouth and holdeth it open with his finger within it testifying sufficiently that they doe not proceed nor are caused by any disease considering that in Diseases he that hath a Conuulsion is not master of that part or member wherein it is hauing neither any power of Election or commaundement ouer it and particularly in the Conuulsion of the Iawes which is the most violent of all the rest the finger of the Priest should bee no more respected nor spared then the finger of another man but should be as quickly bitten off Adding hereunto moreouer that the accidents of Diseases aswell as the Diseases themselues being found to haue their times of beginning increasing full force and declination these torments here as they first tooke their beginning and mounted to their vttermost extremitie all at once so did they likewise cease all in a moment Diseases and the motions also of Diseases especially those that are violent as they leaue the bodie feeble the visage pale the breath panting this maide on the contrarie at the end of her fittes was found to be as little moued and changed in pulse colour countenance and breath as euer she was before yea which is the more to be noted as little at the end of her Exorcisme as at the beginning at euening as in the morning at the last day as at the first Notwithstanding touching the point of Counterfeiting the insensibilitie of her bodie during her extasies and furies tried by the deepe prickings of long pinnes which were thrust into diuerse parts of her hands and of her necke and afterwards plucked out againe without any shew that euer she made of feeling the same either in the putting in of them or in the taking out of them and also without any mark of blood a griefe which without Magike and without speech could not in our opinion be indured without any countenance or shew thereof neither by the constancie of the most couragious nor by the stoutnesse of the most wicked nor by the strong conceite of the most criminall Malefactors tooke from vs almost the suspition of it but much more perswaded vs from that opinion the thin and slender fome that in her Mad-fits we saw issue out of her mouth which she had no meanes to be able to counterfeit And yet more then all this the very consideration before mentioned of the little or no change at all that was seene in her person after all these most sharpe and very long pangs a thing which no bodie in the world did euer trie in their most moderate exercises we are driuen euen till this houre by all the lawes of discourse and knowledge yea and almost forced to beleeue that this maide is a Daemóniake and the Deuill dwelling in her who is the author of all these effects for that next after the corporall and materiall causes which wee doe not finde to haue had any place in this matter come the spirituall and supernaturall causes in the highest degree whereof acknowledging God to be the Father of grace and mercie and the Angels to bee ordained for the tuition and consolation of Mankinde as Christian Philosophers wee haue learned and know that there is none but the Deuill that delighteth in doing euill Now if wee had seene that which my Lord of Saint Geneuefue and many others doe report that this maide was lifted vp into the ayre more then foure foote aboue fiue or sixe strong persons that held her it would haue been an argument vnto vs of an extraordinarie power ouer and beyond the common nature and condition of man But not being present at that wonder we doe giue a testimonie of our knowledge which is as much or rather more admirable then that force and power was viz. that being demaunded and in her exorcising commaunded my Lord of Paris furnishing the Priest with questions and Interrogatories this maide diuers and sundrie times by many persons of qualitie and worthie of credit was seene and heard to obey and answere to purpose not onely in the Latin tongue wherein it had not been impertinent peraduenture to haue suspected some collusion but also in Greeke and in English and that vpon the sudden She did we say once againe vnderstand the Greeke and English languages wherein wee beleeue

as it is very likely that she was neuer studied so that there was no collusion vsed with her neither could she inuent or imagine the interpretations thereof It resteth therefore euen in the iudgement of Aristotle in the like case that they were inspired into her By reason whereof and considering also vnder correction that S. Luke who was both a Phisitian and an Euangelist describing the persons out of whose bodies our Lord and his Apostles did driue the Deuils left vnto vs none other nor any greater signes then those which we thinke wee haue seene in this case wee are the more induced and almost confirmed to beleeue and to conclude as before taking God for a witnesse of our consciences in the matter Made at Paris this third of April 1599. Now let vs briefly examine this long discourse The actions of Martha say they which we haue obserued are either counterfeited or proceede of some Disease or are caused by the Deuill Of any Disease they proceede not neither are they counterfeit then are they caused by the Deuill The Proposition is true the Assumption is false and we do deny it How proue you it Mary first you proue that they proceeded not of any Disease because euery motion that proceedeth of any Disease is either a Trembling or a Stifnes or a Panting or a Crampe This diuision seemeth to bee imperfect because there bee diuerse motions proceeding from Diseases which are mixt as for example those that are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mingled of a Crampe and a trembling and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Trembling with a Shiuering which Hippocrates calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And these mixt kindes are sometimes so mingled one with another that it is a very difficult thing to referre them to any one of your simple kindes But let vs not rest vpon this seeing we are all agreed that the motions of this woman proceeded not from any disease and let vs examine the reasons which you alleadge for the Deuill The first reason is for that she being pricked very deepe with a pin she neuer made any semblant that she felt it Out of all question when she was but sleightly pricked on the side of her neck she turned her selfe and felt it indeede and then Father Seraphin vsed his wonted excuse and said Here is nothing els but Martha Well a little after being pricked somewhat deeper she dissembled her paine and therefore had she the Deuill in her bodie The Lackies of the Court which diuerse times will of themselues thrust a pin very deepe into some fleshie part as in the thigh or in the arme are they therefore possessed with a Spirit The wise Stoike being inclosed in the bull of Phalaris said that it was but a gentle torment Theeues that robbe by the high way doe easily endure the torture we haue seene many that were burned aliue and neuer shewed any token of paine Plutarch in the life of Lycurgus saith that the children of the Lacedaemonians did vse themselues to stealing with so great feare to bee discouered in their theft as one of them hauing stollen a yong Foxe hid it vnder his cloathes and suffered all his bellie to bee rent out with the nailes and teeth of the beast and yet neuer cried for it for feare he should haue been discouered insomuch as he dyed in the place where he was Which thing saith Plutarch is nothing incredible when wee see what yong children doe euen at this day indure For wee haue seene many that without either crying or speaking a word haue indured to be whipped euen to the death vpon the Altar of Diana Behold the very words of Plutarch But ye will say that Martha was pricked without any blood following Assuredly we did see a shew and a marke of red And ye must vnderstand that when a pinne is pricked directly and vprightly into a fleshie part wherein there is not notable veine it will make a very small and narrow hole out of which blood doth not issue especially if the blood be earthie and melancholike Vpon such a like argument as yours is wee haue seene poore soules condemned to be burned for Witches and afterwards absolued and let goe by the Iudges of the Court A dangerous argument for such Witches and yet in this question now in hand much lesse pricking then a pinne But let vs argue by Philosophie a little more subtilly Galen sheweth against Aristotle that Sense is not the alteration or chaunge that is made in the Organon or Instrument of Sense but the knowledge of that alteration As for example saith he if I bee very attentiue to any thing and in the meane while one passeth before me although his image bee receiued into the Chrystalline humour of mine eye as it were in a glasse yet for all that I shall not see him because the Visuall Spirit with the power thereof is kept backe in the spring and original fountaine of the sight or the soule doth not send forth the Common Sense into the eye because it is occupied elsewhere and without it there can bee no Sense and by consequence either little or no paine at all If I bee very greatly busied or occupied attentiuely about any thing although one crie out or speake alowd that is neere vnto me yet shall not I discerne what was said because the Common Sense is hindered elsewhere Some haue receiued many shots of gunnes in the warres that felt nothing thereof Archimedes being busied about his Geometricall lines did not thinke that Syracusa had been taken If therefore constancie and resolution as also a strong imagination doe detaine the Spirit Animall in her fountaine if the Soule doe not send foorth into the part her Common Sense without which there is either little or no feeling at all and by consequence either little or no paine doe we thinke it strange that the patient being very resolute doth endure little or no griefe and so dissemble it This reason induced the Stoikes to defend this Paradoxe That griefe or paine consisteth in opinion because Imagination is the mother of Opinion and if Imagination doe not worke withall there is no paine at all Cease therfore to conclude that Martha was possessed with a Deuill because she was not moued with the pricking of a pinne conclude rather that she was not possessed because she felt not the pricking For there is no likelihood in it and it is a thing incompatible not agreeing with it selfe that the Deuill should quite take away the feeling of paine from those whom he meaneth to torment nay he would rather augment and increase the same to make them feele the greater paine Cease ye also to marueile that there followed no blood out of the pricke for the onely apprehension or strong conceit of being let blood is ordinarily a cause why there followeth no blood out of the issue that is made although the veine bee very well opened The common people doe vsually say I was so angred as if