Adalbert
A French pseudo-mystic of the eighth century.
He boasted that an angel had brought him relics of extraordinary sanctity from all parts of the earth. He claimed to be able to foretell the future, and to read thoughts. know what you have done," he would say to the people, there is no need for confession. Go in peace, your sins are forgiven." His so-called "miracles gained for him the awe of the multitude, and he was in the habit of giving away parings of his nails and locks of his hair as powerful amulets. He is even said to have set up an altar in his own name. In his history of his life, of which only a fragment remains, he tells us of miraculous powers bestowed by an angel at his birth. He showed to his disciples a letter which he declared had been brought to him from Jesus Christ by the hand of St. Michael. These, and similar blasphemies were put an end to by his being cast into prison, where he died.
Adam, Book of the Penitence of: A manuscript in the Library of the Arsenal at Paris, which deals with Kabalistic tradition. It recounts how the sons of Adam, Cain and Abel, typifying brute force and intelligence, slew each other, and that Adam's inheritance passed to his third son, Seth. Seth, it is stated, was permitted to advance as far as the gate of the Earthly Paradise without being threatened by the guardian angel with his flaming sword, which is to say that he was an initiate of occult science. He beheld the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, which had become grafted upon each other so that they formed one tree. This is supposed by some to have symbolised the harmony of science and religion in the Kabala. The guardian angel presented Seth with three seeds from this tree, directing him to place them within the mouth of his father, Adam, when he expired. From this planting arose the burning bush out of which God communicated to Moses his holy name, and from a part of which Moses made his magic wand. This was placed in the Ark of the Covenant, and was planted by King David on Mount Zion, grew into a triple tree and was cut down by Solomon to form the pillars, Jachin and Boaz, which were placed at the entrance to the Temple. A third portion was inserted in the threshold of the great gate, and acted as a talisman, permitting no unclean thing to enter the sanctuary. Certain wicked priests removed it however for purposes of their own, weighted it with stones, and cast it into the Temple reservoir, where it was guarded by an angel, who kept it from the sight of men. During the lifetime of Christ the reservoir was drained and the beam of wood discovered and thrown across the brook Kedron, over which our Saviour passed after his apprehension in the Garden of Olives. It was taken by his executioners and made into the cross. In this legend we can see a marked similarity to those from which the conception of the Holy Grail arose. Man is restored by the wood through the instrumentality of which Adam, the first man, fell. The idea that the Cross was a cutting of the Tree of Knowledge was widespread in the middle ages, and may be found in the twelfth century Quete del St. Graal, ascribed to Walter Map, but probably only redacted by him. All the Kabalistic traditions are embodied in the allegory contained in the Book of the
Penitence of Adam, and it undoubtedly supplements and throws considerable light on the entire Kabalistic literature. Adam, (L'Abbe): About the time that the Templars were being driven from France, the Devil appeared, under various guises, to the Abbé Adam, who was journeying, attended by one of the servants from his convent, to a certain part of his abbacy of the Vaux de Cernay. The evil spriit first opposed the progress of the worthy Abbé under the form of a tree white with frost, which rushed towards him with inconceivable swiftness. The Abbé's horse trembled with fear, as did the servant, but the Abbé himself made the sign of the Cross, and the tree disappeared. The good man concluded that he had seen the Devil, and called upon the Virgin to protect him. Nevertheless, the fiend shortly reappeared in the shape of a furious black knight. "Begone," said the Abbé. Why do you attack me far from my brothers?" The Devil once more left him, only to return in the shape of a tall man, with a long, thin neck. Adam, to get rid of him, struck him a blow with his fist. The evil spirit shrank and took the stature and countenance of a little cloaked monk, with a glittering weapon under his dress. His little eyes could be seen darting and glancing under his cowl. He tried hard to strike the Abbé with the sword he held, but the latter repulsed the strokes with the sign of the Cross. The demon became in turn a pig and a long-eared ass. The Abbé, impatient to be gone, made a circle on the ground with a cross in the centre. The fiend was then obliged to withdraw to a little distance. He changed his long ears into horns, which Adonai did not hinder the Abbé from boldly addressing him.
Offended by his plain-speaking, the Devil changed himself into a barrel and rolled into an adjoining field. In a short time he returned in the form of a cart-wheel, and, without giving the brother time to put himself on the defensive, rolled heavily over his body, without, however, doing him any injury. After that he left him to pursue his journey in peace. (See Gaguin, Regne de Philippe le Bel, and Gerinet, Hist. de la Magie en France, p. 82.)