Flicker (98 page)

The accused, having been brought to this audience after several weeks of strict confinement, was closely examined to confirm that he should be capable of speaking and understanding. The court having unanimously affirmed his competency, he was sworn with his hand upon the Holy Gospels to tell the truth pure, simple, and entire, as much concerning himself as principal as concerning others both alive and dead as witness.

The question put by Monseigneur Fournier: What was the origin of the device by which your offense came to be broadly known in this region?

To which, Lizier of his own volition made answer as follows:

It was in the year of Esclarmonde my youngest daughter's birth, she now being seven years of age, that Guillaume Panissoles, bayle of the most honorable Seigneur Berenger de Rocquefort, châtelaine of Foix, summoned me to make certain repairs to the windmill which stands among three others atop the ridge overlooking the village of Aix-les-Thermes. The wind upon this height is famously potent and drives the mills most vigorously by day and night through all seasons, for which reason the valley
below has long since been known as the Vale of Aeolus. The mill that was in disrepair was the oldest on the demesne, having been many times mended to my knowledge as far back as my grandfather some sixty and ten years before. A sturdy mill it is, but having been crafted of elm (as was common in earlier time) its sails were heavy and slow and prone to grind to a halt. After examining the structure, I proposed to replace the old sails as well as their inner workings with eight sails of birch, a wood of lesser weight. This being agreeable to the bayle and a price being settled, I began my work hoping to finish before the winter rains began.

According to the custom of my family as I learned it from my father, I first constructed a model of the mill as I intended to build it in full scale so that I might make sure of the balance. This I did, finishing with a fine, small prototype that measured perhaps two cubits in height. When I had completed the full repair of the Seigneur's mill to the satisfaction of the bayle, I did as I have done in the past and gave this model to the children to be a sort of toy. But before doing this, in a moment of idleness, I undertook to paint pictures on the sails, placing on each a horse and rider depicted at the gallop, in each image carefully showing the legs of the horse in a different position as if the beast and its rider were progressing along a road. This was no more, my lords, than an act of whimsy intended to entertain the children. I then placed the model, so decorated with its pictures, out of doors where the wind could take hold of it. And to my amazement I noticed this remarkable thing that followed. As the sails turned in the wind, the pictures flashing before my eyes at a great speed, the horse and rider painted on the spinning sails did seem to move, as if they were indeed traversing an open road. And the objects I had placed behind them, which were a tree and a rock and a post and such like, did seem to glide by as if I were myself riding this beast. This was how my device was born, sires, as no more than such a trivial plaything and with no malicious intent.

The question put by Monseigneur Fournier: And what ensued from this?

Only that I was inspired to paint a similar succession of images on the sails of the other models I had at hand from previous work. One of these was a twelve-sail mill, which is as many sails as ever I have tried to attach at the hub, for there is a limit to the weight and the twist that a mill can bear if one intends to use it for grinding the grain. But since my intention now was mere amusement, I dared to place still more sails on the hub, each light and narrow but large enough to carry a picture. I then amused myself by choosing some several kinds of pictures, as for instance two tumbling clowns, a fox in pursuit of chickens, two swordsmen locked in combat. With each new effort of this kind I studied the illusion I had created and soon learned what was the best speed for the sails to travel roundabout.

The question put by Monseigneur Ladurie: What speed was that?

If the sails are turned so that two dozen pictures pass in the time required for a drop of water to fall six handbreadths, the eye sees, as it were, a single passage of motion.

The question put by Monseigneur Ladurie: You were able to perform so cunning a calculation?

With much patience, my lord.

The question put by Monseigneur Ladurie: You did not feel it was unnatural to divide God's time so minutely that the very eye is misled?

I did not stop to think this, so absorbed was I in finding ways to improve the appearance of motion.

The question put by Monseigneur Ladurie: What were these ways?

Since the wind cannot be summoned or controlled as one might wish, I attached a pedal and treadle like those used on the weaver's hand loom to my models and so determined the speed of turning with the pressure of my foot. I also discovered that I could more closely direct the eye as to what it should see by placing before the sails a leather sheet in which I had cut a hole. In this way, one might fix one's eye on the hole and see nothing but the pictures as they wheeled by. This vastly improved the illusion I sought. And indeed I now recognized that there was no need to mount the sails on the model of a mill, but simply to design a wheel of sails that could turn as on a central pivot.

The question put by Monseigneur Fournier: At what point then did you employ candles in this work?

Quite by accident on one occasion, while I labored by candlelight indoors, I noticed that the material from which I had fashioned the sails, which was cloth that had been soaked in oil to protect from rain, transmitted light through itself, though not so clearly that the candle itself could be seen, but only the shine thereof.

—It was translucent, you mean.

I have learned that word, my lord, and that is what I mean.

—Continue.

Having observed the effect of the translucent cloth, namely that it made the spinning pictures brighter and so enhanced the illusion of motion, I tried other materials and soon discovered that silk cloth achieved the most satisfactory result. So I acquired several pieces of clear, unpainted silk to use.

The question put by Monseigneur Fournier: Where did you acquire this silk?

At the market fair at Prades d'Aillon, which is yearly held at the time of the grape harvest until the Feast of St. Bartholomew.

The question put by Monseigneur Fournier: And from whom did you buy the silk at the fair?

From a Moorish merchant who comes there occasionally.

The question put by Brother Bernard of the Dominican court at Carcassonne: A Moorish merchant you say. A resident of your district?

No, my lord, he travels from the lands beyond the mountains, I know not where.

The question put by Brother Bernard: He is an infidel, then?

I did not inquire, but very like. But I have never been told it is forbidden in Comte de Foix to do commerce with infidels, my lord.

The question put by Monseigneur Ladurie: What use did you make of the infidels silk?

(At this point the accused swooned, and upon being restored to his senses asked if he might have water and a modicum of food, as he had eaten but meagerly in many days during his confinement. The water, as prescribed in the amount of four drams, was given. At the bidding of Monseigneur Fournier, the audience continued. The accused resumed.)

As I have mentioned, my lord, I replaced the cloth I had used for the sails with silk, which was the more translucent and also smoother of surface, which allowed me to execute more detailed pictures.

The question put by Brother Antoine of the Dominican court at Carcassonne: This work, did it not take you away from your livelihood?

It did, and concerning that my good wife complained most resolutely.

The question put by Brother Antoine: In what terms did your wife complain?

Indeed, she said, but only jokingly, that the devil was leading me stray, so wholly sunk in this strange work had I become, often spending whole days and nights at it while I neglected my proper trade.

The question put by Brother Antoine: She said the devil was misleading you?

But only jokingly, my lord, as she has sometimes said such playful things when I am lost in gaming or some other irregular thing.

—Let it be noted that the wife spoke of this as a trick of the devil. Continue. The question put by Brother Bernard: After you had perfected this strange device, what then?

In time I came to see that this amusement might prove to be of some profit.

The question put by Monseigneur Fournier: In what way?

People from the village, hearing of this strange device, asked to witness its wonders. And so I showed them what I had created. Those who came soon told others and in time there were great numbers who came to our door, indeed too many to crowd into my small workshop. So I set up the device in the ostel at the rear of our domus.
I then discovered that because the ostel was so poorly lit, the building having no windows, the illusion created by my device, as lit by candles, showed up all the more brightly. And here I could accommodate more observers if the kine and sheep were removed.

The question put by Monseigneur Fournier: How many observers?

As many as two score at one time. It then occurred to me that I might ask for a small payment for my efforts which were now costing me a great deal of time. Indeed, I was no longer regarded as a millwright in Junac but as a sort of wonder worker and conjuror, though not so of my own choosing.

The question put by Brother Bernard: What manner of pictures were you displaying to these observers?

At first I showed the few things I have mentioned, the running horse, the tumbling clowns, the swordsmen. But these made for such brief amusements that I soon wished to attempt something more. At which point it struck me that if I were to use several of my devices one after another, I might move from the one to the next and so present a greater show, indeed one that told a story.

The question put by Brother Bernard: How so a story?

Like the mysteries that the jongleurs enact at the fair on feast days in which they progress from scene to scene, as in the story of the three Marys at Our Lord's tomb.

The question put by Brother Bernard: And how would you accomplish this?

By dividing the story, as it were in portions, and reserving for each device a single portion. Thus, I would paint on the first device how the devil might tempt a good Christian man and on the next paint how he succumbs to that temptation and on the next how he begs forgiveness of the Virgin Mother as he lies a-dying and in the last how he ascends to Heaven.

The question put by Monseigneur Fournier: You assume the right to make such a judgment of a man's sins?

Nay, my lord, but it is how the jongleurs present their work, nothing more.

The question put by Monseigneur Fournier: And do not the jongleurs first solicit the approval of the bishop?

I do not know of this.

The question put by Monseigneur Fournier: But you, a millwright, assume the right to teach such lessons?

My purpose is not to teach, my lord, but only to amuse.

The question put by Brother Bernard: And in what way did this lead you to include Our Blessed Lord in your amusement?

Only because I have seen at the fair at Eastertide an interlude in which Our Lord's resurrection was enacted.

The question put by Brother Bernard: And so you presumed that you might also enact this greatest of mysteries in your ostel where the kine and sheep make their home?

Only to amuse and perhaps to uplift the spirit.

The question put by Monseigneur Ladurie: Tell us what your performance depicted.

Only what the Fathers of the Church have taught us, that Our Lord was crucified, died and was buried, and on the third day rose again.

The question put by Monseigneur Ladurie: All this you show with your devices
?

A humble facsimile, though one which onlookers found powerfully instructive.

The question put by Brother Bernard: In what way powerful?

In that many said that they felt they could see the contention of the Good and the Evil most vividly in the flickering light.

Brother Arnaud de Beaune, inquisitor of heretical depravity, being present, he intervened to note well the informant's particular words, namely that he voiced the foul and odious teachings of the Cathari, to wit that the Good and the Evil rank as equals in their contention, which is gross heresy.

The question put by Brother Bernard: Who has taught you this doctrine that the Good and Evil are equal in power?

My lords, I am a simple man. I present only what I have learned since childhood, namely that the world is torn between the darkness and the light and that this struggle has endured since time out of mind and shall not be resolved until the end of days, no man knowing which party to the struggle will emerge triumphant, for indeed the power of the dark god is great.

The question put by Brother Bernard: And are you not aware that this is a false teaching contrary to scripture and tradition?

I am not a learned man, my lord. I know nothing more than I have been taught.

The question put by Brother Antoine: Taught by whom?

By the good Father Joseph of our village and by others besides who preach in the churches of our Comte de Foix.

(At which Brother Arnaud de Beaune intervened to remind the court that Father Joseph
curate of the parish of St. Catharine's in Junac is among those under confinement at Carcassonne, having been denounced by several informants as a priest of the Cathari.)