De prenosticis hugus belli.
The Hermitess and the Demonic Host
A holy woman living in a German hermitage encounters a passing host of demons and questions them about their destination.
There was a woman of holy life in a region of Germany, living in a hermitage, who heard a host of demons pass by her cell with a great crash and roar. She adjured them and asked where they were heading.1
The Demons' Prophecy of Battle
The demons reveal they are heading toward Prussia, where a great battle will take place the following day.
They said, 'Toward Prussia. There will be a great battle there tomorrow.'
The Hermitess Demands a Report
The holy woman commands the demons to return and report the outcome of the battle.
She replied, 'When you return, report to me what has been done there.'2
The Souls Saved and the Three Lost
Upon returning, the demons report that the Christians lost the battle yet all slain souls were saved except three who fought not from devotion but from mercenary intent.
When they returned, they said that the Christians had lost the victory, and that all the souls whose bodies had been killed there were saved — except three, who had come to this battle not for the sake of devotion but to ply their own military trade.34
Read the original Latin
Fuit in partibus Alemanie quedam vite sancte mulier in quodam redusorio, que audiens demonum multitudinem cum magno strepitu et fragore precedere cellam suam 3, adjurans ipsos quesivit, quo tenderent. Qui dixerunt: versus Prussiam; ibi cras erit grande bellum. Respondit ipsa: dum redieritis, renunciate mihi, quid ibi sit actum. Qui reversi dixerunt, quod Cristiani perdidissent victoriam, et quod omnes anime, quarum corpora ibi occisa fuerant, essent salvate, preter tres, que non devocionis causa, sed exercendi miliciamc suam venerantd ad hoc bellum.
Notes
- 1 ↩'redusorio' is a very rare and uncertain form; likely a corruption of 'reclusorio' (hermitage/recluse's cell). The unexplained '3' after 'cellam suam' in the raw text appears to be a scribal numeral or corruption and is omitted in translation.
- 2 ↩'dum redieritis' — the form 'redieritis' is ambiguous between perfect subjunctive ('when you return') and future perfect indicative ('when you will have returned'). The temporal sense is preserved either way.
- 3 ↩'miliciamc' normalized as 'miliciam' (superfluous final 'c' removed); 'venerantd' normalized as 'venerunt' (scribal error). Both corrections are minor and the intended sense is clear.
- 4 ↩The passage draws a sharp distinction between those who die in battle with devout intention and those who fight merely as soldiers of fortune. The claim that all but three souls were saved is presented as reported speech from the demons, not as doctrinal assertion by the narrator.
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