In the Middle Ages, people believed that demons roamed the earth, tempting people and pushing them to sin. The demons were led from the underworld by the devil, in especially difficult cases he himself appeared on earth. All this work was carried out to get as many immortal human souls as possible into fiery hell. Demons were of different kinds and were responsible for different sins. So, the demon responsible for the sin of lust was very popular in the legends. Such demons were called incubi.
Devilish lover
The incubus is Latin for “recline on top”. The Incubus were male demons who craved sexual intercourse with women. They stalked their victims at night in a variety of forms. For example, an incubus could turn into the husband of a persecuted woman, into a pretty neighbor, or just into a beautiful stranger burning with passion.
About another version, the incubus not only took on someone's appearance, but even infiltrated unsuspecting men. So, once, at the cry of the unfortunate woman, the household came running and found Bishop Salvanius under her bed. The priest swore that an incubus had possessed him and forced his body to harass the venerable lady. Everyone believed the words of the bishop, since this did not in the least contradict the medieval picture of the world.
However, there have been descriptions of the incubus in their true guise, which contradicted each other and competed in the monstrous appearance of the demon. According to such testimonies, the Incubus had huge twisted horns, they appeared in the form of a satyr, and often took animal form - a huge goat, snake or raven. Oddly enough, the bestial appearance did not prevent the demon from entering into a relationship with women. Opinions also differed on whether the connection with the incubus gave women pleasure - some testified that they had been in the arms of an adorable lover, others complained of terrible pain.
Looking for salvation
Usually lustful demons attacked women in their sleep, and at such moments all the other inhabitants of the house fell asleep unnaturally until the morning. It happened that a woman could not scream, and if she did, no one heard her. Such powerlessness in front of demons led to the spread of ways to scare away incubi: disgustingly smelling tinctures and special clothes that block the path to the female body.
Pope Innocent VIII in 1484 even issued a bull dedicated to the fight against the incubi, since they became a real misfortune for the holy monasteries. Most of all, the incubi were attracted, apparently, by the nuns, since it was their immortal souls that had to be destroyed in the first place.
The time of mysticism did not leave people with other explanations for the night visions visiting them. But the age of rationalism brought a different interpretation of the image of the incubus - in the Middle Ages, the natural sexuality of a person was so suppressed by church and social norms that inevitably she was looking for any way out.
The pursuit of monstrous demons became such a way out. On the one hand, these inventions purified the thoughts of people who did not voluntarily enter into unnatural relationships, and on the other hand, they made it possible to fantasize as much as they wanted about the desired intercourse.
Since the religious fervor covered the entire medieval society, for men there was a female demon - a succubus (from the Latin - "to lie under"). Outwardly, succubi were much more attractive than their incubus brothers, and often men complained that they simply could not resist the insidious temptress.