The title canon ''Episcopi'' (or ''capitulum Episcopi'') is conventionally given to a certain passage found in medieval

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

. The text possibly originates in an early 10th-century

penitential A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christianity, Christian sacrament of penance, used for regular private confession with a confessor-priest, a "new manner of reconciliation with God in Christianity, God" that was prom ...

, recorded by

Regino of Prüm Regino of Prüm or of Prum (, ; died 915 AD) was a Benedictine Order, Benedictine monk, who served as abbot of Prüm Abbey, Prüm (892–99) and later of St. Maximin's Abbey, Trier, Saint Martin's at Trier, and chronicler, whose ''Chronicon'' is ...

; it was included in Gratian's authoritative '' Corpus juris canonici'' of c. 1140 (''Decretum Gratiani'', causa 26, quaestio 5, canon 12) and as such became part of

during the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history between and ; it was preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended according to historiographical convention ...

. It is an important source on folk belief and surviving pagan customs in

Francia The Kingdom of the Franks (), also known as the Frankish Kingdom, or just Francia, was the largest History of the Roman Empire, post-Roman barbarian kingdom in Western Europe. It was ruled by the Franks, Frankish Merovingian dynasty, Merovingi ...

on the eve of the formation of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

. The folk beliefs described in the text reflect the residue of pre-Christian beliefs about one century after the

Carolingian Empire The Carolingian Empire (800–887) was a Franks, Frankish-dominated empire in Western and Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as List of Frankish kings, kings of the Franks since ...

had been

Christianized Christianization (or Christianisation) is a term for the specific type of change that occurs when someone or something has been or is being converted to Christianity. Christianization has, for the most part, spread through missions by individu ...

. It does not believe

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

to be a real physical manifestation; this was an important argument used by the opponents of the witch trials during the 16th century, such as Johann Weyer. The conventional title "canon ''Episcopi''" is based on the text's

incipit The incipit ( ) of a text is the first few words of the text, employed as an identifying label. In a musical composition, an incipit is an initial sequence of Musical note, notes, having the same purpose. The word ''incipit'' comes from Latin an ...

, and was current from at least the 17th century.

Textual history

It is perhaps first attested in the ''Libri de synodalibus causis et disciplinis ecclesiasticis'' composed by

around 906. It was included in

Burchard of Worms Burchard of Worms ( 950/965 – August 20, 1025) was the bishop of the Imperial City of Worms, in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the author of a canon law collection of twenty books known as the '' Decretum'', ''Decretum Burchardi'', or ''Decreto ...

' ''Decretum'' (compiled between 1008 and 1012), an early attempt at collecting all of

. The text was adopted in the ''Decretum'' of

Ivo of Chartres Ivo of Chartres, canon regular, Can.Reg. (also Ives, Yves, or Yvo; ; 1040 – 23 December 1115), was a French canon regular and abbot who then served as the Bishop of Chartres from 1090 until his death. He was an important authority in Catholic c ...

and eventually in Gratian's authoritative '' Corpus juris canonici'' of c. 1140 (causa 26, quaestio 5, canon 12). Because it was included in Gratian's compilation, the text was treated as canon law for the remaining part of the

, until

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

views on

European witchcraft European witchcraft can be traced back to classical antiquity, when magic and religion were closely entwined. During the Ancient Roman religion, pagan era of ancient Rome, there were laws against harmful magic. After Christianization#Roman Empir ...

began to change dramatically in the

late medieval The late Middle Ages or late medieval period was the period of European history lasting from 1300 to 1500 AD. The late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...

period. The text of Gratian is not the same as the one used by Burchard, and the distinctive features of the ''Corrector'' text were thus not transmitted to later times. The text of Regino of Prüm was edited in

Patrologia Latina The ''Patrologia Latina'' (Latin for ''The Latin Patrology'') is an enormous collection of the writings of the Church Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers published by Jacques Paul Migne between 1841 and 1855, with indices published betwe ...

, volume 132; the ''Decretum'' of Burchard of Worms in volume 140. The text of Burchard's ''Corrector'' has been separately edited by Wasserschleben (1851), and again by Schmitz (1898).

The incipit of Gratian's text, which gave rise to the title of "canon ''Episcopi''" reads: :''Episcopi, eorumque ministri omnibus modis elaborare studeant, ut perniciosam et a diabolo inventam sortilegam et magicam artem ex parochiis suis penitus eradicent, et si aliquem virum aut mulierem hujuscemodi sceleris sectatorem invenerint, turpiter dehonestatum de parochiis suis ejiciant. '' :"The bishops and their ministers should by all means make great effort so that they may thoroughly eradicate the pernicious art of divination and magic, invented by the devil, from their parishes, and if they find any man or woman adhering to such a crime, they should eject them, turpidly dishonoured, from their parishes." This condemnation the "pernicious art of divination and magic" (''magicam'' being changed by Gratian from ') is justified by a reference to

Titus Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September AD 81) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, becoming the first Roman emperor ever to succeed h ...

3:10-11 on

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...

. Then follows a description of the errors of "certain wicked women" ('), who deceived by

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

believe themselves to join the train of the pagan goddess Diana (to which Burchardus added: ' "or with

Herodias Herodias (; , ''Hērōidiás''; c. 15 BC – after AD 39) was a princess of the Herodian dynasty of Judea, Judaea during the time of the Roman Empire. Christian writings connect her with the Beheading of John the Baptist, execution of John the Ba ...

") during the hours of the night, and to cover great distances within a multitude of women riding on beasts, and during certain nights to be called to the service of their mistress. Those holding such beliefs are then condemned by the text in no uncertain terms ("that they would only perish in their perfidy without drawing others with them"), deploring the great number of people who "relapse into pagan error" by holding such beliefs. Because of this, the text instructs that all priests should teach at every possible instant that such beliefs are phantasms inspired by an evil spirit. The following paragraph presents an account of the means by which Satan takes possession of the minds of these women by appearing to them in numerous forms, and how once he holds captive their minds, deludes them by means of

dreams A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5–20 minutes, althou ...

('). The text emphasizes that the heretical belief is to hold that these transformations occur in the body, while they are in reality dream visions inspired in the mind ('). The text proposes that it is perfectly normal to have nightly visions in which one sees things that are never seen while awake, but that it is a great stupidity to believe that the events experienced in the dream vision have taken place in the body. Examples are adduced, of Ezechiel having his prophetic visions in spirit, not in body, of the Apocalypse of John which was seen in spirit, not in body, and of

Paul of Tarsus Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Apostles in the New Testament, Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the Ministry of Jesus, teachings of Jesus in the Christianity in the 1st century, first ...

, who describes the events at Damascus as a vision, not as a bodily encounter. The text concludes by repeating that it should be publicly preached that all those holding such beliefs have lost their faith, believing not in God but in the devil, and whosoever believes that it is possible to transform themselves into a different kind of creature, is far more wavering (in his faith) than an infidel ('; to which Burchard added: "and worse than a pagan", ').

Reception

The Canon Episcopi has received a great deal of attention from historians of the witch craze period as early documentation of the

Catholic church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...

position on the question of witchcraft. The position taken by the author is that these "rides of Diana" did not actually exist, that they are deceptions, dreams or phantasms. It is the belief in the reality of such deceptions which is considered a heresy worthy of excommunication. The position here is that the devil is real, creating delusions in the mind, but that the delusions do not have bodily reality. This skeptical treatment of magic sharply contrasts with the sanction of witch trials by the church in later centuries, beginning with the bull '' Summis desiderantes affectibus'' (1484). The proponents of these trials were aware of this problem, and the authors of the ''

Malleus Maleficarum The ''Malleus Maleficarum'', usually translated as the ''Hammer of Witches'', is the best known treatise about witchcraft. It was written by the German Catholic Church, Catholic clergyman Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinisation of names, Latini ...

'', a witch-hunter's manual from 1487 that played a key role in the witch craze, were forced to argue for a reinterpretation of the Canon Episcopi in order to reconcile their beliefs that witchcraft was both real and effective as with those expressed in the Canon. Their detractors in the 16th and 17th century also made reference to the canon, e.g. Johann Weyer in his ''

De praestigiis daemonum ''De praestigiis daemonum'', translated as ''On the Tricks of Demons'', is a book by Doctor of Medicine, medical doctor Johann Weyer, also known as Wier, first published in Basel in 1563. The book argues that witchcraft does not exist and that t ...

'' (1563). Burchard of Worms added the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

figure

to his copy of the document in one passage, and the Teutonic goddess

Holda "Frau Holle" (; ; also known as "Mother Holle", "Mother Hulda" or "Old Mother Frost") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in ''Grimms' Fairy Tales, Children's and Household Tales'' in 1812 (KHM 24). It is of Aarne–Thompson� ...

in another. In the 12th century, Hugues de Saint-Victor quoted the Canon Episcopi as reading "Diana

Minerva Minerva (; ; ) is the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. She is also a goddess of warfare, though with a focus on strategic warfare, rather than the violence of gods such as Mars. Be ...

". Later collections included the names "Benzozia" and "Bizazia". In modern times, the text's description of " witches' sabbaths" dedicated to Diana has given rise to a hypothesis concerning a supposed medieval witch religion, a theory mostly associated with

Margaret Murray Margaret Alice Murray (13 July 1863 – 13 November 1963) was an Anglo-Indian Egyptologist, archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and folklorist. The first woman to be appointed as a lecturer in archaeology in the United Kingdom, sh ...

, and later adopted by

Gerald Gardner Gerald Brosseau Gardner (13 June 1884 – 12 February 1964), also known by the craft name Scire, was an English Wiccan, author, and amateur anthropology, anthropologist and archaeology, archaeologist. He was instrumental in bringing the Moder ...

and his followers. Burchard's mention of Herodias is relevant especially the theories of

Charles Godfrey Leland Charles Godfrey Leland (August 15, 1824 – March 20, 1903) was an American humorist and folklorist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at Princeton University and in Europe. Leland worked in journalism, travelled extensivel ...

presented in ''

Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches ''Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches'' is a book composed by the American folklorist Charles Godfrey Leland that was published in 1899. It contains what he believed was the religious text of a group of pagan witches in Tuscany, Italy, that docum ...

'' (1899), and taken up in the ''

Stregheria () is a neo-pagan tradition similar to Wicca, with Italian and Italian American origins. While most practitioners consider to be a distinct tradition from Wicca, some academics consider it to be a form of Wicca or an offshoot. Both have similar ...

'' of Raven Grimassi.

Notes

References

*Henry Charles Lea, ''Materials Toward a History of Witchcraft'' (1890). * *Emil Pauls, 'Zauberwesen und Hexenwahn am Niederrhein' in: ''Beiträge zur Geschichte des Niederrheins, Jahrbuch des Düsseldorfer Geschichtsvereins'' 13 (1898), 134-242.
wikisource

External links

Dom Hs. 119, foll. 91v-92r
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426061726/http://www.ceec.uni-koeln.de/ceec-cgi/kleioc/0010/exec/pagemed/%22kn28-0119_182.jpg%22/segment/%22body%22 , date=2012-04-26 Penitentials Catholic canonical documents Canon law history European witchcraft Shapeshifting Lucid dreams

Textual history

Contents

Reception

Notes

References

External links