4017

IV

THE TWO BONDS

A remarkable detail in our painter’s story is the statement that he signed two different bonds with the Devil. The first, written in black ink, ran as follows:

‘I, Chr. H., subscribe myself to this Lord as his bounden son till the ninth year.’

The second, written in blood, ran:

‘Chr. H. I sign a bond with this Satan, to be his bounden son, and in the ninth year to belong to him body and soul.’

The originals of both are said to have been in the archives at Mariazell when the Trophaeum was compiled, and both bear the same date - 1669.

I have already made a number of references to the two bonds; and I now propose to deal with them in greater detail, although it is precisely here that the danger of overvaluing trifles seems especially great.

It is unusual for anyone to sign a bond with the Devil twice, in such a way that the first document is replaced by the second, but without losing its own validity. Perhaps this occurrence is less surprising to other people, who are more at home with demonological material. For my part, I could only look on it as a special peculiarity of our case, and my suspicions were aroused when I found that the reports were at variance precisely on this point. Examination of these discrepancies will afford us, unexpectedly, a deeper understanding of the case history.

The village priest of Pottenbrunn’s letter of introduction describes a very simple and clear situation. In it mention is only made of one bond, which was written in blood by the painter nine years before and which was due to expire in a few days’ time - on September 24. It must therefore have been drawn up on September 24, 1668; unfortunately this date, although it can be inferred with certainty, is not explicitly stated.