Europe's inner demons

As spiritual beings who were yet capable of appearing physically on earth, and as enemies of Christ who operated through the moral weakness of Christians, the demons of medieval Europe were powerful indeed. In the tenth century Ratherius, bishop of Verona, felt it necessary to point out that Satan and his hosts were still subject to an omnipotent God. This should have been clear to the clergy at least; yet it was the clergy who constantly stressed Satan’s near-omnipotence. To appreciate just how obsessive their preoccupation had become by the thirteenth century one has only to consider some of the anecdotes told by two German monks, Caesarius, of the monastery of Heisterbach in the Rhineland, and Richalmus, abbot of the monastery of Schönthal in Württemberg.

Caesarius, who entered his monastery towards the year 1200 and died between 1240 and 1250, has sometimes been regarded as a mere joker, a connoisseur of tall stories; but he was nothing of the kind. The very form of his best-known book, the Dialogus Miraculorum

, shows how serious his intention was; for it consists of a series of dialogues in which Caesarius, as an experienced man, instructs a novice of his monastery. It was a monastery noted for its strict discipline; and the monks who were Caesarius’s colleagues, and who no doubt read and criticized his writings, would never have tolerated a frivolous treatment of matters touching so nearly on the salvation and damnation of souls. Caesarius’s tales are in fact exempla, cautionary tales designed to be used in sermons; and many of them are to be found in other well-known collections of exempla

from the same period.

In Caesarius’s book Satan and the lesser demons appear as obstinate rebels against God. We hear how once a demon went to confession. Appalled by the number of his sins, the father confessor remarks that they must have taken more than a thousand years to perform; to which the demon replies that he is older than that, for he is one of the angels who fell with Satan. Yet, having seen how penitents are granted absolution even for grievous sins, he hopes for the same relief. So the priest prescribes a penance: “Go and throw yourself down three times a day, saying: ‘Lord God, my Creator, I have sinned against you, forgive me.’ And that shall be your whole penance.” But the demon finds this too hard, for he cannot humble himself before God; and so he is sent packing.⁽⁴⁵⁾

This particular demon appears in human form, and that is not uncommon. Other talcs of Caesarius show a demon in the guise of a big, ugly man dressed in black -⁽⁴⁶⁾

or, when he is set on seducing a woman, as a fine, smartly dressed fellow or a handsome soldier.⁽⁴⁷⁾ It is not uncommon for a demon to appear as a Moor.⁽⁴⁸⁾

And the demons who sit on the stately train of an ostentatious lady are like tiny, black Moors, who giggle, clap their hands and jump about like fish in a net.⁽⁴⁹⁾ But demons can also manifest themselves as oxen, horses, dogs, cats, bears, apes, toads, ravens, lambs.

Both Caesarius and the novice know that demons are exceedingly numerous — it seems that no less than a tenth of all the hosts of heaven fell with Satan. Because of this, one human being can be tormented by the attentions of more than one demon. Caesarius proves this by the story of a French nun whom a demon tormented grievously with the temptation of lust. She prayed ardently to be relieved of this temptation; whereupon her good angel appeared and recommended a verse from a psalm as a certain cure. But as soon as the nun escaped from the temptation of lust, another demon afflicted her with an irresistible urge to blaspheme. Again the angel suggested a helpful verse — but added that, once cured of blasphemy, she would be tortured again by lust. The nun chose lust, for it is better that one’s flesh should suffer than that one’s soul should be damned.⁽⁵⁰⁾