It all started back in 1221, when the eels of Lake Geneva had to answer for several acts of evil-doing before an Episcopal court. Their lawyer defended them so well that they were granted part of the lake for their exclusive use, writes Jean Réal. Flies, maybugs, caterpillars, mice and more were also accused and tried by officials of the dioceses of Burgundy, Normandy, Italy, Spain and elsewhere… risking curses and excommunications. All the way up to the locusts, whose trial was held in Clermont-Ferrand in 1826. These practices, which appeared at the same time as the Inquisition, could inspire no more than laughter, or sarcasm; yet they responded to popular expectations, and were part of a project to control people’s hearts and minds.
At the same time, pigs, horses, cows and goats had to answer for their crimes in front of noble or royal courts. Civil law, which punished men, also applied to animals convicted of homicide. The secular world’s intent was, in this way, to extend its power and codes to the entire natural world.
Jean Réal describes several of these trials, which seem at the least surprising to us today, but which made perfect sense in representations of the world at that time. For over six centuries, the powers that be tried, given a certain perception of their environment and the tools available to them, to exercise their responsibilities in maintaining the balance of Creation.