The History of Witchcraft and Demonology  

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"In the following pages I have endeavoured to show the witch as she really was – an evil liver: a social pest and parasite: the devotee of a loathly and obscene creed: an adept at poisoning, blackmail, and other creeping crimes: a member of a powerful secret organisation inimical to Church and State: a blasphemer in word and deed, swaying the villagers by terror and superstition: a charlatan and a quack sometimes: a bawd: an abortionist: the dark counsellor of lewd court ladies and adulterous gallants: a minister to vice and inconceivable corruption, battening upon the filth and foulest passions of the age."--The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926) by Montague Summers


'My present work is the result of more than thirty years’ close attention to the subject of Witchcraft, and during this period I have made a systematic and intensive study of the older demonologists, as I am convinced that their first-hand evidence is of prime importance and value, whilst since their writings are very voluminous and of the last rarity they have universally been neglected, and are allowed to accumulate thick dust undisturbed. They are, moreover, often difficult to read owing to technicalities of phrase and vocabulary. Among the most authoritative I may cite a few names : Sprenger (Malleus Maleficarum) ; Guazzo; Bartolomeo Spina, O.P.; John Nider, O.P.; Grilland ; Jerome Mengo ; Binsfeld; Gerson; Ulrich Molitor; Basin; Murner; Crespet; Anania; Henri Boguet; Bodin; Martin Delrio; S.J.; Pierre le Loyer; Ludwig Elich; Godelmann; Nicolas Remy; Salerini; Leonard Vair; De Lancre; Alfonso de Castro; Sebastian Miehaelis; Sinistrari; Perreaud; Dom Calmet; Sylvester Mazzolini; Prierias."--The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926) by Montague Summers

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The History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926) is a book by by Montague Summers.

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The History of Witchcraft and Demonology


By

MONTAGUE SUMMERS


Imtiati sunt Beelfihegor : et comedenmt sacfificia movtuornm, Et immolamrunt filios suos , et filias suas dmmoniis*

Et effud&runt sanguinem innocmtem . Et fornicaU sunt in adtnuentionibus suis .— Psalm cv.


LONDON

KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. LTD. NEW YORK; ALFRED A. KNOPF 1926


THE DEPARTURE FOR THE SABBAT David Teniers


F frontispiece



To

- FJgSirV"

in memory of Loreto and Our Lady's Holy House, as also of Our Lady's miraculous Picture at CampocavaUo, Our Lady of Pompeii, La Consolata of Turin, Consolatrix Afflictorum in 8. Caterina ai Funari at Pome, h Santissima Vergine del Porto of S. Agostino, the Madonna della Strada at the Gesit, La Nicopeja of Sm Marco at Venice, Notre- Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle of Rennes, Notre-Dam de Grande Puissance of Lamballe, and all the Italian and French Madonnas at whose shrines we hone worshipped.


Printed in Great Britain at

The Mayflower Press, Plymouth. William Brendon & Son, Ltd,


CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction ........ vii

CHAPTER

I, The Witch : Heretic and Anarchist I

II. The Worship of the Witch . . , . .51

III. Demons and Familiars . . . . . .81

IV. The Sabbat . . . . . . . .110

V. The Witch in Holt Writ . . . . .178

VI. Diabolic Possession and Modern Spiritism . .198

VII. The Witch in Dramatic Literature . . ,276

Bibliography . . . . . . , .315


Index


. 847


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


PLATE

I, The Departure for the Sabbat (David Teniers) J^onthpi*

PA(.


II. The World Tost at Tennis. 4to., 1620 {Facsimile title-page.)

III. Compendivm Maleficarvm. Mediolani, i 626 - 8

(Facsimile title-page of second edition .)

IV. Off to the Sabbat (Queverdo) - - - - 12

V. The Sabbat (Ziarnko) ------ 14

VI. The Witch of End or (W, Faithorne) - - - 17

(Frontispiece to Sadducismus Tnumphatns, 1681)

VII. S. James Visits the Warlock's Den (Pieter Breughel) 2« 

VIII. The Witch of Edmonton. 4to., 1658 - 2c

(Facsimile title-page .)


INTRODUCTION


The history of Witchcraft, a subject as old as the world and as wide as the world,—since I understand for the present purpose by Witchcraft, Sorcery, Black Magic, Necromancy, secret Divination, Satanism, and every kind of malign occult art,—at once confronts the writer with a most difficult problem. He is called upon to exercise a choice, and his dilemma is by no means made the easier owing to the fact he is acutely conscious that whichever way he may decide he is laying himself open to damaging and not impertinent criticism. Since it is essential that his work should be com¬ prised within a reasonable compass he may elect to attempt a bird’s-eye view of the whole range from China to Peru, from the half-articulate, rhythmic incantations of primitive man at the dawn of life to the last spiritistic fad and mani¬ festation at yesterday’s seance or circle, in which case his pages will most certainly be thin and often superficial: or again he may rather concentrate upon one or twp features in the history of Witchcraft, deal with these at some length, stress some few forgotten facts whose importance is now neglected and unrealized, utilize new material the result of laborious research, but all this at the expense of inevitable omissions, of hiatus, of self-denial, the avoidance of fascinat¬ ing by-ways and valuable inquiry, of silence when he would fain be entering upon discussion and exposition. With a full sense of its drawbacks and danger I have selected the second method, since in dealing with a topic such as Witchcraft where there is no human hope of recording more than a tithe of the facts I believe it is better to give a documented account of certain aspects rather than to essay a somewhat huddled and confused conspectus of the whole, for such, indeed, even at best is itself bound to have no inconsiderable gaps and lacunae, however carefully we endeavour to make it complete. I am conscious, then, that there is scarcely a paragraph in the present work which might not easily be


vm


INTRODUCTION


expanded into a page, scarcely a page which might not to its great advantage become a chapter, and certainly not a chapter that would not be vastly improved were it elabor¬ ated to a volume.

Many omissions are, as I have said, a necessary conse¬ quence of the plan I have adopted ; or, indeed, I venture to suppose, of any other plan which contemplates the treatment of so universal a subject as Witchcraft. I can but offer my apologies to these students who come to this History to find details of Finnish magic and the sorceries of Lapland, who wish to inform themselves concerning Tohungaism among the Maoris, Hindu devilry and enchantments, the Bersekir of Iceland, Siberian Shamanism, the blind Pan Sus and Mutangs of Korea, the Chinese Wu-po, Serbian lycanthropy, negro Voodoism, the dark lore of old Scandinavia and Islam. I trust my readers will believe that I regret as much as any the absence of these from my work, but after all in any human endeavour there are practical limitations of space.

In a complementary and companion volume I am intend¬ ing to treat the epidemic of Witchcraft in particular localities, the British Isles, France, Germany, Italy, New England, and other countries. Many famous cases, the Lancashire witch- trials, the activities of Matthew Hopkins, Gilles de Rais, Gaufridi, Urbain Grandier, Cotton Mather and the Sale m sorceries, will then be dealt with and discussed in some detail.

It is a surprising fact that amongst English writers Witch¬ craft in Europe has not of recent years received anything like adequate attention from serious students of history, who strangely fail to recognize the importance of this tragic belief both as a political and a social factor. Magic, the genesis of magical cults and ceremonies, the ritual of primitive peoples, traditional superstitions, and their ancillary lore, have been made the subject of vast and erudite studies, mostly from an anthropological and folk-loristic point of view, hut the darker side of the subject, the history of Satanism seems hardly to have been attempted.

Possibly one reason for this neglect and ignorance lies in the fact that the heavy and crass materialism, which was so prominent a feature during the greater part of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in England, intellectually disavowed the supernatural, and attempted not without some


INTRODUCTION


ix


success to substitute for religion a stolid system of respectable morality. Since Witchcraft was entirely exploded it would, at best, possess merely an antiquarian interest, and even so, the exhumation of a disgusting and contemptible super¬ stition was not to be encouraged. It were more seemly to forget the uglier side of the past. This was the attitude which prevailed for more than a hundred and fifty years, and when Witchcraft came under discussion by such narrowly prejudiced and inefficient writers as Lecky or Charles Mackay they are not even concerned to discuss the possibility of the accounts given by the earlier authorities, who, as they premise, were all mistaken, extravagant, purblind, and misled. The cycle of time has had its revenge, and this rationalistic superstition is dying fast. The extraordinary vogue of and immense adherence to Spiritism would alone prove that, whilst the widespread interest that is taken in mysticism is a yet healthier sign that the world will no longer be content to be fed on dry husks and the chaff of straw. And these are only just two indications, and by no means the most significant, out of many.

It is quite impossible to appreciate and understand the true lives of men and women in Elizabethan and Stuart England, in the France of Louis XIII and his son, in the Italy of the Renaissance and the Catholic Reaction—to name but three countries and a few definite periods—unless we have some realization of the part that Witchcraft played in those ages amid the affairs of these kingdoms. All classes were concerned from Pope to peasant, from Queen to cottage gill.

Accordingly as actors are “ the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time ” I have given a concluding chapter which deals with Witchcraft as seen upon the stage, mainly concentrating upon the English theatre. This review has not before been attempted, and since Witchcraft was so formidable a social evil and so intermixed with all stations of life it is obvious that we can find few better contemporary illustrations of it than in the drama, for the playwright ever had his finger upon the public pulse. Until the develop¬ ment of the novel it was the theatre alone that mirrored manners and history.

There are many general French studies of Witchcraft of


X


INTRODUCTION


the greatest value, amongst which we may name such standard works as Antoine-Louis Daugis, Traitt sur la magie, le sortilege, les possessions, obsessions et maUfices, 1732 ; Jules Garinet, Histoire de la Magie en France depuis le com¬ mencement de la monarchic jusqu’d nos jours, 1818 ; Michelet’s famous La Sorciere; Alfred Maury, La Magic et VAstrologie, 3rd edition, 1868 ; L’Abbd Lecanu, Histoire de Satan ; Jules Baissae, Les grands Jours de la Sorcellerie, 1890 ; Theodore de Cauzons, La Magie et la Sorcellerie en France, 4 vols., 1910, etc.

In German we have Eberhard Hauber’s Bibliotheca Magica; Roskoff’s Geschichte des Teufels, I860 ; Soldnn’s Geschichte der Hexenprozesse (neu bearbeitet von Dr. Ilcinrich Jleppe), 1880; Friedrich Leitschuch’s Beilncgc zur Geschichte des Hexenwesens in Franhen, 1883 ; Johan DiefTonbneh’.s Der Hexenwahn vor und nach der Glaubensspaltung in Deutschland, 1886; Schreiber’s Die Hexenprozesse im Breisgau ; Ludwig Rapp’s Die Hexenprozesse und Hire Gegner aus Tirol ; Joseph Hansen’s Quellen und TJntersuchungen zur Geschichle des Hexenwahns, 1901 ; and very many more admirably docu¬ mented studies.

In England the best of the older books must be recom¬ mended with necessary reservations. Thomas Wright’s Narratives of Sorcery and Magic, 2 vols., 1853, is to be com¬ mended as the work of a learned antiquarian who often referred to original sources, but it is withal sketchy and can hardly satisfy the careful scholar. Some exceptionally good writing and sound, clear, thinking are to be met with in Dr. F. G. Lee’s The Other World, 2 vols., 1875 ; More Glimpses of the World TJnseen, 1878 ; Glimpses in the Twilight, 1885 ; and Sight and Shadows, 1894, all of which deserve to be far more widely known, since they well repay an unhurried and repeated perusal.

Quite recent work is represented by Professor Wallace Notestein’s History of Witchcraft in England from 1558 to 1718, published in 1911. This intimate study of a century and a half concentrates, as its title tells, upon England alone. It is supplied with ample and useful appendixes. In respect of the orderly marshalling of his facts, garnered from the trials and other sources—no small labour—Professor Note- stein deserves a generous meed of praise; his interpretation


INTRODUCTION


xi


of the facts and his deductions may not unfairly be criticized. Although his incredulity must surely now and again be shaken by the cumulative force of reiterated and corroborative evidence, nevertheless he refuses to admit even the possibility that persons who at any rate affected supernatural powers held clandestine meetings after nightfall in obscure and lonely places for purposes and plots of their own. If human testi¬ mony is worth anything at all, unless we are to be more Pyrrhonian than the famous Dr. Marphurius himself who would never say, “ Je suis venu; mais ; 11 me semble que je suis venu,” when in 1612 Roger Nowell had swooped down on the Lancashire coven and carried off Elizabeth Demdike with three other beldames to durance vile in Lancaster Castle, Elizabeth Device summoned the whole Pendlc gang to her home at Malking Tower, in order that they might discuss the situation and contrive the delivery of the prisoners. As soon as they had forgathered, they all sat down to dinner, and had a good north country spread of beef, bacon, and roast mutton. Surely there is nothing very remarkable in this ; and the evidence as given in Thomas Potts’ famous narrative, The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the countie of Lancaster (London, 1618), bears the very hall-mark and impress of truth: “ The persons aforesaid had to their

dinners Beefe, Bacon, and roasted Mutton ; which Mutton (as this Examinates said brother said) was of a Wether of Christopher Swyers of Barley: which Wether was brought in the night before into this Examinates mothers house by the said lames Deuice, the Examinates said brother: and in this Examinates sight killed and eaten.” But Professor Notestein will none of it. He writes : “ The concurring evidence in the Malking Tower story is of no more compelling character than that to be found in a multitude of Continental stories of witch gatherings which have been shown to be the outcome of physical or mental pressure and of leading questions. It seems unnecessary to accept even a sub¬ stratum of fact ” (p. 124). In the face of such sweeping and dogmatic assertion mere evidence is no use at all. For we know that the Continental stories of witch gatherings are with very few exceptions the chronicle of actual fact. It must be confessed that such feeble scepticism, which re¬ peatedly mars his summary of the witch-trials, is a serious


Xll


INTRODUCTION


blemish in Professor Notestein’s work, and in view of his industry much to be regretted.

Miss M. A. Murray does not for a moment countenance any such summary dismissal and uncritical rejection of evidence. Her careful reading of the writers upon Witch¬ craft has justly convinced her that their statements must be accepted. Keen intelligences and shrewd investigators such as Gregory XV, Bodin, Guazzo, De Lancre, D’Espagnet, La Reynie, Boyle, Sir Matthew Hale, Glanvill, were neither deceivers nor deceived. The evidence must stand, but as Miss Murray finds herself unable to admit the logical consequence of this, she hurriedly starts away with an arbitrary, “ the statements do not bear the construction put upon them,” and in The Witch-Cult in Western Europe (1921) proceeds to develop a most ingenious, but, as I show, a wholly untenable hypothesis. Accordingly we are not surprised to find that many of the details Miss Murray has collected in her painstaking pages are (no doubt uncon¬ sciously) made to square with her preconceived theory. However much I may differ from Miss Murray in my outlook, and our disagreement is, I consider, neither slight nor super¬ ficial, I am none the less bound to commend her frank and courageous treatment of many essential particulars which are all too often suppressed, and in consequence a false and counterfeit picture has not unseldom been drawn.

So vast a literature surrounds modem Witchcraft, for frankly such is Spiritism in effect, that it were no easy task to mention even a quota of those works which seem to throw some real light upon a complex and difficult subject. Among many which I have found useful are Surbled, Spiritualisme et spiritisme and Spirites et midiums ; Gutberlet, Dev Kampf um die Seele ; Dr. Marcel Viollet, Le spiritisme dans ses rapports avec la folie ; J. Godfrey Raupert, Modern Spiritism and Dangers of Spiritualism ; the Very Rev. Alexis L^picier, O.S.M., The Unseen World ; the Rev. A. V. Miller, Sermons on Modern Spiritualism ; Lapponi, Hypnotism and Spiritism ; the late Monsignor Hugh Benson’s Spiritualism (The History of Religions) ; Elliot O’Donnell’s The Menace of Spiritualism ; and Father Simon Blackmore’s Spiritism : Facts and Frauds, 1925. My own opinion of this movement has been formed not only from reading studies and mono-


INTRODUCTION


xm


graphs which treat of every phase of the question from all points of view, but also by correspondence and discussion with ardent devotees of the cult, and, not least, owing to the admissions and warnings of those who have abandoned these dangerous practices, revelations made in such circumstances, however, as altogether to preclude even a hint as to their definite import and scope.

The History of Witchcraft is full of interest to the theo¬ logian, the psychologist, the historian, and cannot be ignored. But it presents a very dark and terrible aspect, the details of which in the few English studies that claim serious atten¬ tion have almost universally been unrecorded, and, indeed, deliberately burked and shunned. Such treatment is un¬ worthy and unscholarly to a degree, reprehensible and dishonest.

The work of Professor Notestein, for example, is gravely vitiated, owing to the fact that he has completely ignored the immodesty of the witch-cult and thus extenuated its evil. He is, indeed, so uncritical, I would even venture to say so unscholarly, as naively to remark (p. 300) : “ No one who has not read for himself can have any notion of the vile character of the charges and confessions embodied in the witch pamphlets. It is an aspect of the question which has not been discussed in these pages. 5 ’ Such a confession is amazing. One cannot write in dainty phrase of Satanists and the Sabbat. However loathly the disease the doctor must not hesitate to diagnose and to probe. This ostrich-like policy is moral cowardice. None of the Fathers and great writers of the Church were thus culpably prudish. When S. Epiphanius has to discuss the Gnostics, he describes in detail their abominations, and pertinently remarks ; Why should I shrink from speaking of the things you do not fear to do ? By speaking thus, I hope to fill you with horror of the turpitudes you commit.” And S. Clement of Alexandria says : <c I am not ashamed to name the parts of the body wherein the foetus is formed and nourished; and why, indeed, should I be, since God was not ashamed to create them ? ”

A few authors have painted the mediaeval witch in pretty colours on satin. She has become a somewhat eccentric but kindly old lady, shrewd and perspicacious, with a knowledge of healing herbs and simples, ready to advise and aid her


XIV


INTRODUCTION


neighbours who are duller-witted than she ; not disdaining in return a rustic present of a flitch, meal, a poult or eggs from the farm-yard. And so for no very definite reason she fell an easy prey to fanatic judges and ravening inquisitors, notoriously the most ignorant and stupid of mortals, who caught her, swum her in a river, tried her, tortured her, and finally burned her at the stake. Many modern writers, more sceptical still, frankly relegate the witch to the land of nursery tales and Christmas pantomime ; she never had any real existence other than as Cinderella’s fairy godmother or the Countess D’Aulnoy’s Madame Merluche.

I have even heard it publicly asserted from the lecture platform by a professed student of the Elizabethan period that the Elizabethans did not, of course, as a matter of fact believe in Witchcraft. It were impossible to imagine that men of the intellectual standard of Shakespeare, Ford, Jonson, Fletcher, could have held so idle a chimsera, born of sick fancies and hysteria. And his audience acquiesced with no little complacency, pleased to think that the great names of the past had been cleared from the stigma of so degrading and gross a superstition. A few uneducated peasants here and there may have been morbid and ignorant enough to dream of witches, and the poets used these crones and hags with effect in ballad and play. But as for giving any actual credence to such fantasies, most assuredly our great Eliza¬ bethans were more enlightened than that 1 And, indeed. Witchcraft is a phase of and a factor in the manners of the seventeenth century, which in some quarters there seems a tacit agreement almost to ignore.

All this is very unhistorical and very unscientific. In the following pages I have endeavoured to show the witch as she really was—an evil liver ; a social pest and parasite; the devotee of a loathly and obscene creed; an adept at poisoning, blackmail, and other creeping crimes ; a member of a powerful secret organization inimical to Church and State ; a blasphemer in word and deed; swaying the villagers by terror and superstition; a charlatan and a quack some¬ times ; a bawd; an abortionist; the dark counsellor of lewd court ladies and adulterous gallants; a minister to vice and inconceivable corruption; battening upon the filth and foulest passions of the age.


INTRODUCTION


xv


My present work is the result of more than thirty years’ close attention to the subject of Witchcraft, and during this period I have made a systematic and intensive study of the older demonologists, as I am convinced that their first-hand evidence is of prime importance and value, whilst since their writings are very voluminous and of the last rarity they have universally been neglected, and are allowed to accumulate thick dust undisturbed. They are, moreover, often difficult to read owing to technicalities of phrase and vocabulary. Among the most authoritative I may cite a few names : Sprenger (Malleus Maleficarum) ; Guazzo; Bartolomeo Spina, O.P.; John Nider, O.P.; Grilland ; Jerome Mengo ; Binsfeld; Gerson; Ulrich Molitor; Basin; Murner; Crespet; Anania ; Henri Boguet; Bodin ; Martin Delrio, S.J.; Pierre le Loyer ; Ludwig Elich ; Godelmann ; Nicolas Remy; Salerini; Leonard Vair ; De Lancrc ; Alfonso de Castro ; Sebastian Miehaelis, O.P.; Sinistrari; Perreaud ; Dom Calmet; Sylvester Mazzolini, O.P. (Prierias). When we supplement these by the judicial records and the legal codes we have an immense body of material. In all that I have written I have gone to original sources, and it has been my endeavour fairly to weigh and balance the evidence, to judge without heat or prejudice, to give the facts and the comment upon them with candour, sincerity, and truth. At the same time I am very well aware that several great scholars for whom I have the sincerest personal regard and whose attainments I view with a very profound respect will differ from me in many particulars.

I am conscious that the roi ■ "A list uf wH^h T have

up does no* deserve to be dignified with the title, Bibdt^ryphy. It is sadly incomplete, yet should it, however inadequate, prove helpful in the smallest way It will have j ustified its inclusion. I may add that my Biblical quotations, save where expressly otherwise noted, are from the Vulgate or its translation into English commonly called the Douai Version.

Ix FeSTO S. TEBKSIiB, V.

1925 .



THE

HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

CHAPTER I

The Witcii : Heretic and Anarchist

“ Sorcier est celuy qui par moyens Diaboliques sciemment s’efforce de parucnir k quel que chose.” (“A sorcerer is one who by commerce with the Devil has a full intention of attaining his own ends.”) With these words the profoundly erudite jurisconsult Jean Bodin, one of the acutest and most strictly impartial minds of his age, opens his famous De la Demonomanie des Sorciers , 1 and it would be, I imagine, hardly possible to discover a more concise, exact, compre¬ hensive, and intelligent definition of a Witch. The whole tremendous subject of Witchcraft, especially as revealed in its multifold and remarkable manifestations throughout every district of Southern and Western Europe from the middle of the thirteenth until the dawn of the eighteenth century , 2 has it would seem in recent times seldom, if ever, been candidly and fairly examined. The only sound sources of information are the contemporary records; the meticulously detailed legal reports of the actual trials ; the vast mass of pamphlets which give eye-witnessed accounts of individual witches and reproduce evidence uerbatim as told in court; and, above all, the voluminous and highly technical works of the Inquisitors and demonologists, holy and reverend divines, doctors utriwque iuris, hard-headed, slow, and sober lawyers,—learned men, scholars of philosophic mind, the most honourable names in the universities of Europe, in the forefront of literature, science, politics, and culture; monks who kept the conscience of kings, pontiffs j whose word would

B


2


THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


set Europe aflame and bring an emperor to his knees a their gate.

It is true that Witchcraft has formed the subject of a no inconsiderable literature, but it will be found that inquirers have for the most part approached this eternal and terribh chapter in the history of humanity from biassed, althougl wholly divergent, points of view, and in consequence it if often necessary to sift more or less thoroughly their partia presentation of their theme, to discount their unwarrantec commentaries and illogical conclusions, and to get down ir time to the hard bed-rock of fact.

In the first place we have those writings and that interest which may be termed merely antiquarian. Witchcraft h treated as a curious by-lane of history, a superstition long since dead, having no existence among, nor bearing upon, the affairs of the present day. It is a field for folk-lore, where one may gather strange flowers and noxious weeds. Again, we often recognize the romantic treatment of Witchcraft. Tis the Eve of S. George, a dark wild night, the pale moon can but struggle thinly through the thick massing clouds. The witches are abroad, and hurtle swiftly aloft, a hideous covey, borne headlong on the skirling blast. In delirious tones they are yelling foul mysterious words as .they go : 64 Har ! Har ! Har ! Altri! Altri! 55 To some peak of the Brocken or lonely Cevennes they haste, to the orgies of the Sabbat, the infernal Sacraments, the dance of Acheron, the sweet and fearful fantasy of evil, “ Vers les stupres impurs et les baisers immondes. 553 Hell seems to vomit its foulest dregs upon the shrinking earth; a loathsome shape of obscene horror squats huge and monstrous upon the ebon throne ; the stifling air reeks with filth and blasphemy; faster and faster whirls the witches 5 lewd lavolta ; shriller and shriller the cornemuse screams ; and then a wan grey light flickers in the Eastern sky ; a moment more and there sounds the loud clarion of some village chanticleer; swift as thought the vile phantasmagoria vanishes and is sped, all is quiet and still in the peaceful dawn.

But both the antiquarian and the romanticist reviews of Witchcraft may be deemed negligible and impertinent so far as the present research is concerned, however entertaining and picturesque such treatment proves to many readers.


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 3


affording not a few pleasant hours, whence they are able to draw highly dramatic and brilliantly coloured pictures of old time sorceries, not to be taken too seriously, for these things never were and never could have been. 4

The rationalist historian and the sceptic, when inevitably confronted with the subject of Witchcraft, chose a charmingly easy way to deal with these intensely complex and intricate problems, a flat denial of all statements which did not fit, or could not by some means be squared with, their own narrow prejudice. What matter the most irrefragable evidence, which in the instance of any other accusation would un¬ hesitatingly have been regarded as final. What matter the logical and reasoned belief of centuries, of the most cultured peoples, the highest intelligences of Europe ? Any appeal to authority is, of course, useless, as the sceptic repudiates all authority—save his own. Such things could not be. We must argue from that axiom, and therefore anything which it is impossible to explain away by hallucination, or hysteria, or auto-suggestion, or any other vague catch-word which may chance to be fashionable at the moment, must be uncompromisingly rejected, and a note of superior pity, to candy the so suave yet crushingly decisive judgement, has proved of great service upon more occasions than one. Why examine the evidence ? It is really useless and a waste of time, because we know that the allegations are all idle and ridiculous ; the “ facts ” sworn to by innumerable witnesses, which are repeated in changeless detail century fter century in every country, in every town, simply did not take place. How so absolute and entire falsity of these facts can be demonstrated the sceptic omits to inform us, but we must unquestioningly accept his infallible authority in the face of reason, evidence, and truth.

Yet supposing that with clear and candid minds we proceed carefully to investigate this accumulated evidence, to inquire into the circumstances of a number of typical cases, to compare the trials of the fifteenth century in France with the trials of the seventeenth century in England, shall we not find that amid obvious accretions of fantastic and super¬ fluous detaila certain very solid substratum of a permanent and invaried character is unmistakably to be traced throughout the whole ? This cannot in reason be denied, and here we


4


THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


have the core and the enduring reality of Witchcraft and the witch-cult throughout the ages.

There were some gross superstitions ; there were some unbridled imaginations; there was deception, there was legerdemain ; there was phantasy ; there was fraud ; Henri Boguet seems, perhaps, a trifle credulous, a little eager to explain obscure practices by an instant appeal to the super¬ normal ; Brother Jetzer, the Jacobin of Berne, can only have been either the tool of his superiors or a cunning impostor; Matthew Hopkins was an unmitigated scoundrel who preyed upon the fears of the Essex franklins whilst he emptied their pockets; Lord Torphichen’s son was an idle mischievous boy whose pranks not merely deluded both his father and the Rev. Mr. John Wilkins, but caused considerable mystification and amaze throughout the whole of Calder ; Anne Robinson, Mrs. Golding’s maid, and the two servant lasses of Baldarroch were prestidigitators of no common sleight and skill; and all these examples of ignorance, gullibility, malice, trickery, and imposture might easily be multiplied twenty times over and twenty times again, yet when every allowance has been made, every possible explanation exhausted, there persists a congeries of solid proven fact which cannot be ignored, save indeed by the purblind prejudice of the rationalist, and cannot be accounted for, save that we recognize there were and are individuals and organizations deliberately, nay, even enthusiastically, devoted to the service of evil, greedy of such emotions and experiences, rewards the thraldom of wickedness may bring.

The sceptic notoriously refuses to believe in Witchcraft, but a sanely critical examination of the evidence at the witch-trials will show that a vast amount of the modern vulgar incredulity is founded upon a complete misconception of the facts, and it may be well worth while quite briefly to review and correct some of the more common objections that are so loosely and so repeatedly maintained. There are many points which are urged as proving the fatuous absurdity and demonstrable impossibility of the whole system, and yet there is not one of these phenomena which is not capable of a satisfactory, and often a simple, elucidation. Perhaps the first thought of a witch that will occur to the man in the street is that of a hag on a broomstick flying up the chimney


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 5


through the air. This has often been pictorially impressed on his imagination, not merely by woodcuts and illustrations traditionally presented in books, but by the brush of great painters such as Queverdo’s Le Depart au Sabbat, Le Depart pour le Sabbat of David Teniers, and Goya’s midnight fantasies. The famous Australian artist, Norman Lindsay, has a picture To The Sabbat 5 where witches are depicted wildly rushing through the air on the backs of grotesque pigs and hideous goats. Shakespeare, too, elaborated the idea, and “ Hover through the fog and filthy air ” has impressed itself upon the English imagination. But to descend from the airy realms of painting and poetry to the hard ground of actuality. Throughout the whole of the records there are very few instances when a witness definitely asserted that he had seen a witch carried through the air mounted upon a broom or stick of any kind, and on every occasion there is patent and obvious exaggeration to secure an effect. Sometimes the witches themselves boasted of this means of transport to impress their hearers. Boguet records that Claudine Boban, a young girl whose head was turned with pathological vanity, obviously a monomaniac who must at all costs occupy the centre of the stage and be the cynosure of public attention, confessed that she had been to the Sabbat, and this was undoubtedly the case ; but to walk or ride on horseback to the Sabbat were far too ordinary methods of locomotion, melodrama and the marvellous must find their place in her account and so she alleged : “ that both she and her mother used to mount on a broom, and so making their exit by the chimney in this fashion they flew through the air to the Sabbat.” 6 Julian Cox (1664) said that one evening when she was in the fields about a mile away from the house “there came riding towards her three persons upon three Broom-staves, born up about a yard and a half from the ground.” 7 There is obvious exaggeration here; she saw two men and one woman bestriding brooms and leaping high in the air. They were, in fact, performing a magic rite, a figure of a dance. So it is recorded of the Arab crones that “ In the time of the Munkidh the witches rode about naked on a stick between the graves of the cemetery of Shaizar.” 8 Nobody can refuse to believe that the witches bestrode sticks and poles and in their ritual capered to and fro in this manner,


6


THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


a sufficiently grotesque, but by no means an impossible, action. And this bizarre ceremony, evidence of which—with no reference to flying through the air—is frequent, has been exaggerated and transformed into the popular superstition that sorcerers are carried aloft and so transported from place to place, a wonder they were all ready to exploit in proof of their magic powers. And yet it is not impossible that there should have been actual instances of levitation. For, out¬ side the lives of the Saints, spiritistic seances afford us examples of this supernormal phenomenon, which, if human evidence is worth anything at all, are beyond all question proven.

As for the unguents wherewith the sorcerers anointed themselves we have the actual formulae for this composition, and Professor A. J. Clark, who has examined these, 9 con¬ siders that it is possible a strong application of such liniments might produce unwonted excitement and even delirium. But long ago the great dcmonologists recognized and laid down that of themselves the unguents possessed no such properties as the witches supposed. “ The ointment and lotion are just of no use at all to witches to aid their journey to the Sabbat, 55 is the well-considered opinion of Boguet who, 10 speaking with confident precision and finality, on this point is in entire agreement with the most sceptical of later rationalists.

The transformation of witches into animals and the extra* ordinary appearance at their orgies of C4 the Devil 55 under many a hideously unnatural shape, two points which have been repeatedly held up to scorn as self-evident impossibilities and proof conclusive of the untrustworthiness of the evidence and the incredibility of the whole system, can both be easily and fairly interpreted in a way which offers a complete and convincing explanation of these prodigies. The first meta¬ morphosis, indeed, is mentioned and fully explained in the Liber Poenitentialis 11 of S. Theodore, seventh Archbishop of Canterbury (668-690), capitulum xxvii, which code includes under the rubric De Idolatria ei Sacrilegio u qui in Kalendas lanuarii in ceruulo et in uitula uadit, 55 and prescribes: 4 6 If anyone at the Kalends of January goes about as a stag or a bull; that is, making himself into a wild animal and dressing in the skin of a herd animal, and putting on the


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 7


heads of beasts ; those who in such wise transform them¬ selves into the appearance of a wild animal, penance for three years because this is devilish.” These ritual masks, furs, and hides, were, of course, exactly those the witches at certain ceremonies were wont to don for their Sabbats. There is ample proof that “ the Devil ” of the Sabbat was very frequently a human being, the Grand Master of the district, and since his officers and immediate attendants were also termed “ Devils ” by the witches some confusion has on occasion ensued. In a few cases where sufficient details are given it is possible actually to identify “ the Devil ” by name. Thus, among a list of suspected persons in the reign of Elizabeth we have “ Ould Birtles, the great devil, Roger Birtles and his wife, and Anne Birtles. 5 ’ 12 The evil William, Lord Soulis, of Hermitage Castle, often known as “ Red Cap,” was “ the Devil ” of a coven of sorcerers. Very seldom “the Devil” was a woman. In May, 1560, the Regent of Scotland was present at S. Andrews “ quhair a notabill sorcercs callit Nicniven was condemnit to the death and burnt.” Now Nicniven is the Queen of Elphin, the Mistress of the Sabbat, and this office had evidently been filled by this witch whose real name is not recorded. On 8 November, 1576, Elizabeth or Bessy Dunlop, of Lyne, in the Barony of Dairy, Ayrshire, was tried for sorcery, and she confessed that a certain mysterious Thom Reid had met her and demanded that she should renounce Christianity and her baptism, and apparently worship him. There can be little doubt that he was “ the Devil ” of a coven, for the original details, which are very full, all point to this. lie seems to have played his part with some forethought and skill, since when the accused stated that she often saw him in the churchyard of Dairy, as also in the streets of Edin¬ burgh, where he walked to and fro among other people and handled goods that were exposed on bulks for sale without attracting any special notice, and was thereupon asked why she did not address him, she replied that he had forbidden her to recognize him on any such occasion unless he made a sign or first actually accosted her. She was “ convict and burnt.” 1 ® In the case of Alison Peirson, tried 28 May, 1588, “ the Devil ” was actually her kinsman, William Sympson, and she “ wes conuict of the vsing of Sorcerie and Witchcraft,


8


THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


with the Inuocatioun of the spreitis of the Deuill; speciallie in the visioune and forme of ane Mr. William Sympsoune, hir cousing and moder-brotheris-sone, quha sche affermit wes ane grit scoller and doctor of medicin.” 14 Conuicta et combusta is the terse record of the margin of the court-book.

One of the most interesting identifications of “ the Devil 59 occurs in the course of the notorious trials of Dr. Fian and his associates in 1590-1. As is well known, the whole crew was in league with Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, and even at the time well-founded gossip, and something more than gossip, freely connected his name with the spells, Sabbats, and orgies of the witches. He was vehemently suspected of the black art; he was an undoubted client of warlocks and poisoners ; his restless ambition almost overtly aimed at the throne, and the witch covens were one and all frantically attempting the life of King James, There can be no sort of doubt that Bothwell was the moving force who energized and directed the very elaborate and numerous organization of demonolaters, which was almost accidentally brought to light, to be fiercely crushed by the draconian vengeance of a monarch justly frightened for his crown and his life.

In the nineteenth century both Albert Pike of Charleston and his successor Adriano Lemmi have been identified upon abundant authority as being Grand Masters of societies practising Satanism, and as performing the hierarchical functions of cc the Devil 55 at the modern Sabbat.

God, so far as His ordinary presence and action in Nature are concerned, is hidden behind the veil of secondary causes, and when God’s ape, the Demon, can work so successfully and obtain not merely devoted adherents but fervent wor¬ shippers by human agency, there is plainly no need for Mm to manifest himself in person either to particular individuals or at the Sabbats, but none the less, that he can do so and has done so is certain, since such is the sense of the Church, and there are many striking cases in the records and trials which are to he explained in no other way.

That, as Burns Begg pointed out, the witches not unseldom “ seem to have been undoubtedly the victims of unscrupulous and designing knaves, who personated Satan 9,16 is ' no palliation of their crimes, and therefore they are not one


PLATE 31


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THE WORLD TOST AT TENNIS The First Quarto


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THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 9

whit the less guilty of sorcery and devil-worship, for this was their hearts’ intention and desire. Nor do I think that the man who personated Satan at their assemblies was so much an unscrupulous and designing knave as himself a demonist, believing intensely in the reality of his own dark powers, wholly and horribly dedicated and doomed to the service of evil.

We have 'Seen that the witches were upon occasion wont to array themselves in skins and ritual masks and there is complete evidence that the hierophant at the Sabbat, when a human being played that r61e, generally wore a eorre- sponsive, if somewhat more elaborate, disguise. Nay more, as regards the British Isles at least—and it seems clear that in other countries the habit was very similar—we possess a pictorial representation of “ the Devil ” as he appeared to the witches. During the famous Fian trials Agnes Sampson confessed : “ The deuell wes cled in ane blak goun with ane blak hat vpon his head. . . . His faicc was terrible, his noise lyk the bek of ane egle, greet bournyng eyn ; Ins handis and leggis wer herry, with clawes vpon his handis, and feit lyk the griffon.” 16 In the pamphlet Newes from Scotland, Declaring the Damnable life and death of Doctor Fian 17 we have a rough woodcut, repeated twice, which shows “the Devil ” preaching from the North Berwick pulpit to the whole coven of witches, and allowing for the crudity of the draughtsman and a few unimportant differences of detail—the black gown and hat are not portrayed—-the demon in the picture is exactly like the description Agnes Sampson gave. It must be remembered, too, that at the Sabbat she was obviously in a state of morbid excitation* in part due to deep cups of heady wine, the time was mid* night, the place a haunted old church, the only light a few flickering candles that burned with a ghastly blue flame.

Now “ the Devil ” as he is shown in the Newes from Scotland illustration is precisely the Devil who appears upon the title-page of Middleton and Rowley’s Masque, The World tost at Tennis, 4to, 1620. This woodcut presents an episode towards the end of the masque, and here the Devil in tradi¬ tional disguise, a grim black hairy shape with huge beaked nose, monstrous claws, and the cloven hoofs of a griflShj in every particular fits the details so closely observed by Agnes


10 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Sampson. I have no doubt that the drawing for the masque was actually made in the theatre, for although this kind of costly and decorative entertainment was almost always designed for court or some great nobleman’s house we know that The World tost at Tennis was produced with consider¬ able success on the public stage“ By the Prince his Seruants.” The dress, then, of “ the Devil” at the Sabbats seems frequently to have been an elaborate theatrical costume, such as might have been found in the stock wardrobe of a rich playhouse at London, but which would have had no such associations for provincial folk and even simpler rustics.

From time to time the sceptics have pointed to the many cases upon record of a victim’s sickness or death following the witch’s curse, and have incredulously inquired if it be possible that a malediction should have such consequences. Whilst candidly remarking that personally I believe there is power for evil and even for destruction in such a banc, that a deadly anathema launched with concentrated hate and all the energy of volition may bring unhappiness and fatality in its train, I would—since they will not allow this— answer their objections upon other lines. When some person who had in any way annoyed the witch was to be harmed or killed, it was obviously convenient, when practicable, to follow up the symbolism of the solemn imprecation, or it might be of the melted wax image riddled with pins, by a dose of subtly administered poison, which would bring about the desired result, whether sickness or death; and from the evidence concerning the witches’ victims, who so frequently pined owing to a wasting disease, it seems more than probable that lethal drugs were continually employed, for as Professor A. J. Clark records “the society of witches had a very creditable knowledge of the art of poisoning,” 18 and they are known to have freely used aconite, deadly nightshade (belladonna), and hemlock.

So far then from the confessions of the witches being mere hysteria and hallucination they are proved, even upon the most material interpretation, to be in the main hideous and horrible fact.

In choosing examples to demonstrate this I have as yet referred almost entirely to the witchcraft which raged from


THE WITCH ; HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 11


the middle of the thirteenth to the beginning of the eighteenth century, inasmuch as that was the period when the diabolic cult reached its height, when it spread as a blight and a scourge throughout Europe and flaunted its most terrific proportions. But it must not for a moment be supposed, as has often been superficially believed, that Witchcraft was a product of the Middle Ages, and that only then did authority adopt measures of repression and legislate against the warlock and the sorceress. If attention has been concentrated upon that period it is because during those and the succeed¬ ing centuries Witchcraft blazed forth with unexampled virulence and ferocity, that it threatened the peace, nay in some degree, the salvation of mankind. But even pagan emperors had issued edicts absolutely forbidding goetic theurgy, confiscating grimoires (fatidici libri), and visiting necromancers with death. In A.u.c. 721 during the trium¬ virate of Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, all astrologers and charmers were banished. 19 Maecenas called upon Augustus to punish sorcerers, and plainly stated that those who devote themselves to magic arc despisers of the gods. 20 More than two thousand popular books of spells, both in Greek and Latin, were discovered in Rome and publicly burned, 21 In the reign of Tiberius a decree of the Senate exiled all traffickers in occult arts; Lucius Pituanius, a notorious wizard, they threw from the Tarpeian rock, and another, Publius Martius, was executed more prisco outside the Esquiline gate. 22

Under Claudius the Senate reiterated the sentence of banishment: “ De mathematicis Italia pellendis factum

Senatus consultum, atrox ct irritum,” says Tacitus. 23 During the few months he was emperor Vitellius proceeded with implacable severity against all soothsayers and diviners; many of whom, when accused, he ordered for instant execu¬ tion, not even affording them the tritest formality of a trial. 24 Vespasian, again, his successor, refused to permit scryers and enchanters to set foot in Italy, strictly enforcing the existent statutes. 26 It is clear from all these stringent laws, and the list of examples might be greatly extended, that although under the Caesars omens were respected, oracles were consulted, the augurs* honoured, and haruspices revered, the dark influences and foul criminality of the


12 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


reverse of that dangerous science were recognized and its professors punished with the full force of repeated legislation.

M. de Cauzons has expressed himself somewhat vigorously when speaking of writers who trace the origins of Witchcraft to the Middle Ages : “ C’est une mauvaise plaisanterie,” he remarks, 26 “ ou une contreverit6 flagrante, d’affirmer que la sorcellerie naquit au Moyen-Age, et d’attribuer son existence a Finfluence ou aux croyances de 1’Eglise.” (It is either a silly jest or inept irony to pretend that Witchcraft arose in the Middle Ages, to attribute its existence to the influence or the beliefs of the Catholic Church.)

An even more erroneous assertion is the charge which has been not infrequently but over-emphatically brought forward by partial ill-documented historians to the effect that the European crusade against witches, the stern and searching prosecutions with the ultimate penalty of death at the stake, are entirely due to the Bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, 5 December, 1484, of Pope Innocent VIII; or that at any rate this famous document, if it did not actually initiate the campaign, blew to blasts of flame and fury the smouldering and half-cold embers. This is most preposterously affirmed by Mackay, who does not hesitate to write 27 : “ There

happened at that time to be a pontiff at the head of the Church who had given much of his attention to the subject of Witchcraft, and who, with the intention of rooting out the supposed crime, did more to increase it than any other man that ever lived. John Baptist Cibo, elected to the papacy in 1485, 23 under the designation of Innocent VIII, was sincerely alarmed at the number of witches, and launched forth his terrible manifesto against them. In his celebrated bull of 1488, he called the nations of Europe to the rescue of the Church of Christ upon earth, * imperilled by the arts of Satan 5 ” which last sentence seems to be a very fair state¬ ment of fact. Lecky notes the Bull of Innocent which, he extravagantly declares, “gave a fearful impetus to the persecution.” 29 Dr. Davidson, in a brief but slanderous account of this great pontiff, gives angry prominence to his severity 64 against sorcerers, magicians, and witches.” 30 It is useless to cite more of these superficial and crooked Judgements ; but since even authorities of weight and value have been deluded and fallen into the snare it is worth while


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 13


labouring the point a little and stressing the fact that the Bull of Innocent VIII was only one of a long series of Papal ordinances dealing with the suppression of a monstrous and almost universal evil . 31

The first Papal Bull directly launched against the black art and its professors was that of Alexander IV, 13 December, 1258, addressed to the Franciscan inquisitors. And it is worth while here to examine precisely what was the earlier connotation of the terms “ inquisitor ” and “ inquisition,” so often misunderstood, as our research, though brief, will throw a flood of light upon the subject of Witchcraft, and, moreover, incidentally will serve to explain how that those writers who assign the beginnings of Witchcraft to the Middle Ages, although most certainly and even demonstrably in error, have at any rate been very subtilely and easily led wrong, since sorcery in the Middle AgCvS was violently unmasked and the whole horrid craft then first authori¬ tatively exposed in its darkest colours and most abominable manifestations, as had indeed existed from the first, but had been carefully hidden and scrupulously concealed.

By the term Inquisition (inquirere = to look into) is now generally understood a special ecclesiastical institution for combating or suppressing heresy, and the Inquisitors are the officials attached to the said institution, more particularly judges who are appointed to investigate the charges of heresy and to try the persons brought before them on those charges. During the first twelve centuries the Church was loath to deal with heretics save by argument and persuasion; obstinate and avowed heretics were, of course, excluded from her communion, a defection which in the ages of faith, naturally involved them in many and great difficulties. S. Augustine , 32 S. John Chrysostom , 33 S. Isidore of Seville 34 in the seventh century, and a number of other Doctors and Fathers held that for no cause whatsoever should the Church shed blood ; but, on the other hand, the imperial successors of Constantine justly considered that they were obliged to have a care for the material welfare of the Church here on earth, and that heresy is always inevitably and inextricably entailed with attempts on the social order, always anar¬ chical, always political. Even the pagan persecutor Diocletian i -fw+ -wiwUi until they obtain the


14 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

upper hand, have throughout the ages consistently denied and endeavoured to disguise. For in 287, less than two years after his "accession, he sent to the stake the leaders of the Manichees ; the majority of their followers were beheaded, and a few less culpable sent to perpetual forced labour in the government mines. Again in 296 he orders their extermination (stirpitus amputari) as a sordid, vile, and impure sect. So the Christian Caesars, persuaded that the protection of orthodoxy was their sacred duty, began to issue edicts for the suppression of heretics as being traitors and anti-social revolutionaries. 30 But the Church protested, and when Priscillian, Bishop of Avila, being found guilty of heresy and sorcery, 36 was condemned to death by Maximus at Trier in 884, S. Martin of Tours addressed the Emperor in such plain terms that it was solemnly promised the sentence should not be carried into effect. However, the pledge was broken, and S. Martin’s indignation was such that for a long while he refused to hold communion with those who had been in any way responsible for the execution, which S. Ambrose roundly stigmatized as a heinous crime. 37 Even more crushing were the words of Pope S. Siricius, before whom Maximus was fain to humble himself in lowliest penitence, and the supreme pontiff actually excommunicated Bishop Felix of Trier for his part in the deed.

From time to time heretics were put to death under the civil law to which they were amenable, as in 556 when a band of Manichees were executed at Ravenna. Pope Pelagius I, who was consecrated that very year, when Paulinus of Fossombrone, rejecting his authority, openly stirred up schism and revolt, merely relegated the recalcitrant bishop to a monastery. Saint Caesarius of Arles, who died in 547, speaking 38 of the punishment to be meted out to those who obstinately persevere in overt paganism, recom¬ mends that they should first be remonstrated with and reprimanded, that they should if possible be thus persuaded of their errors ; but if they persist certain corporal chastise¬ ment is to be given; and in extreme cases a course of domestic discipline, the cutting of the hair close as a mark of indignity and confinement within doors under restraint, may be adopted. There is no hint of anything more than


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 15

private measures, no calling in of any ecclesiastical authority, far less an appeal to any punitive tribunal.

In the days of Charlemagne the aged Elipandus, Arch¬ bishop of Toledo, taught an offshoot of the Nestorian heresy, Adoptionism, a crafty but deadly error, to which he won the slippery dialectician Felix of Urgel. Felix, as a Frankish prelate, was summoned to Aix-la-Chapclle. A synod con¬ demned his doctrine and he recanted, only to retract his words and to reiterate his blasphemies. He was again condemned, and again he recanted. But he proved shifty and tricksome to the last. For after his death Agobar of Lyons found amongst his papers a scroll asserting that of this heresy he was fully persuaded, in spite of any contra¬ dictions to which he might hypocritically subscribe. Yet Felix only suffered a short detention at Home, whilst no measures seem to have been taken against Elipandus, who died in his errors. It was presumably considered that orthodoxy could be sufficiently served and vindicated by the zeal of such great names as Beatus, Abbot of Libana; Etherius, Bishop of Osina ; S. Benedict of Aniane ; and the glorious Alcuin. 39

Some forty years later, about the middle of the ninth century, Gothescalch, a monk of Fulda, caused gredt scandal by obstinately and impudently maintaining that Christ had not died for all mankind, a foretaste of the Calvinistic heresy. He was condemned at the Synods of Mainz in 848, and of Kiersey-sur-Oise in 849, being sentenced to flogging and imprisonment, punishments then common in monasteries for various infractions of the rule. In this case, as particularly flagrant, it was Hinemar, Archbishop of Rheims, a prelate notorious for his severity, who sentenced the culprit to incarceration. But Gothescalch had by his pernicious doctrines been the cause of serious disturbances; and his inflammatory harangues had excited tumults, sedition, and unrest, bringing odium upon the sacred habit. The sentence of the Kiersey Synod ran: “ Frater Goteschale . . . quia et eeelesiastica et eiuilia negotia contra propositum et nomen mo'naehi conturbare iura eeelesiastica prsesumpsisti, duris- simis uerberibus te cagistari et secundum ecelesiasticas regulas ergastulo retrudi, auctoritate episcopali decernimus.” (Brother Gothescalch, . . . because thou hast dared—con-


16 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


trary to thy monastic calling and vows—to concern thyself in worldly as well as spiritual businesses and hast violated all ecclesiastical law and order, by our episcopal authority we condemn thee to be severely scourged and according to the provision of the Church to be closely imprisoned.)

From these instances it will be seen that the Church throughout all those centuries of violence, rapine, invasion, and war, when often primitive savagery reigned supreme and the most hideous cruelty was the general order of the day, dealt very gently with the rebel and the heretic, whom she might have executed wholesale with the greatest ease; no voice would have been raised in protest save that of her own pontiffs, doctors, and Saints ; nay, rather, such repres¬ sion Would have been universally applauded as eminently proper and just. But it was the civil power who arraigned the anarch and the misbeliever, who sentenced him to death.

About the year 1000, however, the venom of Manichseism obtained a new footing in the West, where it had died out early in the sixth century. Between 1080-40 an important Manichsean community was discovered at the Castle of Monteforte, near Asti, in Piedmont. Some of the members were arrested by the Bishop of Asti and a number of noble¬ men in the neighbourhood, and upon their refusal to retract the civil arm burned them. Others, by order of the Arch¬ bishop of Milan, Ariberto, were brought to that city since he hoped to convert them. They answered his efforts by attempts to make proselytes; whereupon Lanzano, a prominent noble and leader of the popular party, caused the magistrates to intervene and when they had been taken into the custody of the State they were executed without further respite. For the next two hundred years Manichseism spread its infernal teaching in secret until, towards the year 1200, the plague had infected all Italy and Southern Europe, had reached northwards to Germany, where it was completely organized, and was not unknown in England, since as early as 1159 thirty foreign Manichees had privily settled here. They were discovered in 1166, and handed over to the secular authorities by the Bishops of the Council of Oxford. In high wrath Henry II ordered them to be scourged, branded in the forehead, and cast adrift in the cold


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 17


of winter, straightly forbidding any to succour such vile criminals, so all perished from cold and exposure. Mani- chaeism furthermore split up into an almost infinite number of sects and systems, prominent amongst which were the Cathari, the Aldonistae and Speronistae, the Concorrezenses of Lombardy, the Bagnolenses, the Albigenses, Pauliciani, Patarini, Bogomiles, the Waldenses, Tartarins, Beghards, Pauvres de Lyon.

It must be clearly borne in mind that these heretical bodies with their endless ramifications were not merely exponents of erroneous religious and intellectual beliefs by which they morally corrupted all who came under their influence, but they were the avowed enemies of law and order, red-hot anarchists who would stop at nothing to gain their ends. Terrorism and secret murder were their most frequent weapons. In 1199 the Patarini followers of Ermanno of Parma and Gottardo of Marsi, two firebrands of revolt, foully assassinated S. Peter Parenzo, the governor of Orvieto. On 6 April, 1252, whilst returning from Como to Milan, as he passed through a lonely wood S. Peter of Verona was struck down by the axe of a certain Carino, a Manichaean bravo, who had been hired to the deed. 40 By such acts they sought to intimidate whole districts, and to compel men’s allegiance with blood and violence. The Manichasan system was in truth a simultaneous attack upon the Church and the State, a desperate but well-planned organization to destroy the whole fabric of society, to reduce civilization to chaos. In the first instance, as the Popes began to perceive the momentousness of the struggle they engaged the bishops to stem the tide. At the Council of Tours, 1168, Alexander III called upon the bishops of Gascony to take active measures for the suppression of these revolutionaries, but at the Lateran Council of 1179 it was found these disturbers of public order had sown such sedition in Languedoc that an appeal was made to the secular power to check the evil. In 1184 Lucihs III issued from Verona his Bull Ad Abolendam which expressly mentions many of the heretics by name, Cathari* Patarini, Humiliati, Pauvres de Lyon, Pasagians, Josephins, Aldonistse. The situation had fast developed and become serious. Heretics were to be sought out and suitably punished, by which, however, capital punishment is not c


18 TBjE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

intended. Innocent III, although adding nothing essential to these regulations yet gave them fuller scope and clearer definition. In his Decretals he precisely speaks of accusation, denunciation, and inquisition, and it is obvious that these measures were necessary in the face of a great secret society aiming at nothing less than the destruction of the established order, for all the sectaries were engaged upon the most zealous propaganda, and their adherents had spread like a network over the greater part of Europe. The members bore the title of cc brother ” and “ sister/’ and had words and signs by which the initiate could recognize one another without betraying themselves to others . 41 Ivan de Narbonne, who was converted from this heresy, in a letter to Giraldus, Archbishop of Bordeaux, as quoted by Matthew of Paris, says that in every city where he travelled he was always able to make himself known by signs . 43

It was necessary that the diocesan bishops should be assisted in their heavy task of tracking down heretics, and accordingly the Holy See had resource to legates who were furnished with extraordinary powers to cope with so perplexing a situation. In 1177 as legate of Alexander III, Peter, Cardinal of San Crisogono, at the particular request of Count Raymond V, visited the Toulouse district to check the rising tide of Catharist doctrine . 43 In 1181, Henry, Abbot of Clairvaux, who had been in his suite, now Cardinal of Alban o, as legate of the same Pope, received the sub¬ mission of various heretical leaders, and, so extensive were his powers, solemnly deposed the Archbishops of Lyons and Narbonne. In 1208 Peter of Castclnau and Raoul were acting at Toulouse on behalf of Innocent III, seemingly with plenipotentiary authority. The next year Arnauld Amaury, Abbot of Citeaux, was joined to them to form a triple tribunal with absolute power to judge heretics in the provinces of Aix, Arles, Narbonne, and the adjoining dioceses. At the death of Innocent III (1216) there existed an organization to search out heretics; episcopal tribunals at which often sat an assessor (the future inquisitor) to watch the conduct of the case; and above all the legate to whom he might make a report. The legate, from his position, was naturally a prelate occupied with a vast number of urgent affairs— Arnauld Amaury, for example, was absent for a considerable


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 19

time to take part in the General Chapter at Clunv_and

gradually more and more authority was delegated to the assessor, who insensibly developed into the Inquisitor a special but permanent judge acting in the name of the Pone by whom he was invested with the right and the duty to deal legally with offences against the Faith. And as iust at this time there came into being two new Orders, the Domini¬ cans and Franciscans, whose members by their theological training and the very nature of their vows seemed eminently fitted to perform the inquisitorial task with comr>W^ mnAOCC absolutely uninfluenced by any worldly motive, it j s natural that the new officials should have been selected from these Orders, and, owing to the importance attached by the Dominicans to the study of divinity, especially f rom their learned ranks.

It is very obvious why the Holy See so sagaciously pre¬ ferred to assign the prosecution of heretics, a matter of the first importance, to an extraordinary tribunal rather than leave the trials in the hands of the bishops. Without takino into consideration the fact that these new duties would have seriously encroached upon, if not wholly absorbed the time and activities of a bishop the prelates who ruled most dioceses were the subject of some monarch with whom thev might have come in conflict on many a delicate point which could easily be conceived to arise, and the result of such disagreement would have been fraught with endless nolitical difficulties and internal embarrassments. A court ofrelitdom responsible to the Pope alone, would act more fairly more freely, without fear or favour. The profligate Phifln j 0 f France, for example, during his long, worthless, and dis¬ honoured reign (1060-1108), by his evil courses drew upon himself the censure of the Church, whereupon he banished the Bishop of Beauvais and revoked the decisions of the episcopal courts . 44 In a letter 45 to William, Count of Poitiers, Pope S. Gregory VII energetically declares that if the King does not cease from molesting the bishops and interfering with their judicature a sentence of excomrmini™ tion will be launched. In another letter the same pontS complains of the disrespect shown to the codes!n«d-iA»T tribunals, and addressing the French bishops he cries

“ Y °” ***• Wl “ 5 ° 0th “ y 8h ° UW bC - Mag


20 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


but a cruel tyrant, inspired by Satan, is the head and cause of these evils. For he has notoriously passed all his days in foulest crimes, in seeking to do wickedness and to ensue it. 5 ’ 46 The conflict of the bishops of a realm with an unworthy and evil monarch is a commonplace of history. These troubles could scarcely arise in the case of courts forane.

The words “ inquisition 55 and “ inquisitors 55 began definitely to acquire their accepted signification in the earlier half of the thirteenth century. Thus in 1235 Gregory IX writes to the Archbishop of Sens : “ Know then that we have charged the Provincial of the Order of Preachers in this same realm to nominate certain of his brethren, who are best fitted for so weighty a business, as Inquisitors that they may proceed against all notorious evildoers in the aforesaid realm . . . and we also charge thee, dear Brother, that thou shouldest be instant and zealous in this matter of establishing an Inquisition by the appointment of those who seem to be best fitted for such a work, and let thy loins be girded, Brother, to fight boldly the battles of the Lord.” 47 In 1246 Innocent IY wrote to the Superiors of the Franciscans giving them leave to recall at will: “ those brethren who have been sent abroad to preach the Mystery of the Cross of Christ, or to seek out and take measure against the plague sore of heresy.” 48

All the heresies, and the Secret Societies of heretics, which infested Europe during the Middle Ages were Gnostic, and even more narrowly, Manichsean in character. The Gnostics arose almost with the advent of Christianity as a School or Schools who explained the teachings of Christ by blending them with the doctrines of pagan fantasts, and thus they claimed to have a Higher and a Wider Knowledge, the TvSktis, the first exponent of which was unquestionably Simon Magus. “Two problems borrowed from heathen philosophy,” says Mansel , 49 6C were intruded by Gnosticism on the Christian revelation, the problem of absolute existence, and the problem of the Origin of Evil.” The Gnostics denied the existence of Free-will, and therefore Evil was not the result of Man’s voluntary transgression, but must in some way have emanated from the Creator Himself. Arguing on these lines the majority asserted that the Creator must have been a malignant power, Lord of the Kingdom of Darkness,


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 21

opposed to the Supreme and Ineffable God. This doctrine was taught by the Gnostic sects of Persia, which became deeply imbued with the religion of Zoroaster, who assumed the existence of two original and independent Powers of Good and of Evil. Each of these Powers is of equal strength, and supreme in his own dominions, whilst constant war is waged between the two. This doctrine was particularly held by the Syrian Gnostics, the Ophites, the Naasseni, the Peratse, the Sethians, amongst whom the serpent was the principal symbol. As the Creator of the world was evil, the Tempter, the Serpent, was the benefactor of man. In fact, in some creeds he was identified with the Logos. The Cainites carried out the Ophite doctrines to their fullest logical conclusion. Since the Creator, the God of the Old Testament, is evil all that is commended by the Scripture must be evil, and conversely all that is condemned therein is good. Cain, Korah, the rebels, are to be imitated and admired. The one true Apostle was Judas Iscariot. This cult is very plainly marked in the Middle Ages among the Luciferians ; and Cainite ceremonies have their place in the witches’ Sabbat . 50

All this Gnostic teaching was summed up in the gospel of the Persian Mani, who, when but a young man of twenty-six, seems first to have proclaimed in the streets and bazaars of Seleucia-Ctesiphon his supposed message on Sunday, 20 March, 242, the coronation festival of Shapur I. He did not meet with immediate success in his own country, but here and there his ideas took deep root. In 276-277, however, he was seized and crucified by the grandson of Shapur, Bahram I, his disciples being relentlessly pursued. Whenever Manichees were discovered they were brought to swift justice, executed, held up to universal hatred and contempt. They were considered by Moslems as not merely Unbelievers, the followers of a false impostor, but unnatural and unsocial, a menace to the State. It was for no light cause that the Manichee was loathed and abhorred both by faithful Christian and by those who proclaimed Mohammed as the true prophet of Allah. But later Manichasisra spread in every direction to an extraordinary degree, which may perhaps be accounted for by the fact that it is in some sense: a synthesis of the Gnostic philosophies, the theory of two eternal principles, good and evil, being especially emphasized*


22 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

Moreover, the historical Jesus, 44 the Jewish Messias, whom the Jews crucified,” was 44 a devil, who was justly punished for interfering in the work of the iEon Jesus,” who was neither born nor suffered death. As time went on, the elaborate cosmogony of Mani disappeared, but the idea that the Christ must be repudiated remained. And logically, then, worship is due to the enemy of Christ, and a sub-sect, the Messalians or Euchites, taught that divine honours must be paid to Satan, who is further to be propitiated by means of every possible outrage done to Christ. This, of course, is plain and simple Satanism openly avowed. Carpocrates even went so far as to aggravate the teaching of the Cainites, for he made the performance of every species of sin forbidden in the Old Testament a solemn duty, since this was the completest mode of showing defiance to the Evil Creator and Ruler of the World. This doctrine was wholly that of mediaeval witches, and is flaunted by modern Satanists. Although the Manichees affected the greatest purity, it is quite certain that not unehastity but the act of generation alone was opposed to their views, secretly they practised the most hideous obscenities. 61 The Messalians in particular, vaunted a treatise Asceticus , which was condemned by the Third General Council of Ephesus (481) as 44 that filthy book of this heresy,” and in Armenia, in the fifth century, special edicts were passed to restrain their immoralities, so that their very name became the equivalent for 44 lewdness.” The Messalians survived unto the Middle Ages as Bogomiles.

Attention has already been drawn to the striking fact that even Diocletian legislated with no small vigour against the Manichees, and when we find Valentinian I and his son Gratian, although tolerant of other bodies, passing laws of equal severity in this regard (872), we feel that such inter¬ diction is especially significant. Theodosius I, by a statute of 881, declared Manichees to be without civil rights, and incapable of inheriting ; in the following year he condemned them to death, and in 889 he sternly directed the rigorous enforcement to the letter of these penalties.

Valentinian II confiscated their goods, annulled their wills, and sent them into exile. Honorius in 899 renewed the draconian measures of his predecessors j in 405 he heavily fined all governors of provinces or civil magistrates who were


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 23

slack in carrying out his orders ; in 407 he pronounced the sect outlaws and public criminals having no legal status whatsoever, and in 408 he reiterated the former enactments in meticulous detail to afford no loophole of escape. Theodosius II (428), again, repeated tins legislation, whilst Valentinian III passed fresh laws in 425 and 445. Anastasius once more decreed the penalty of death, which was even extended by Justin and Justinian to converts from Mani- chasism who did not at once denounce their former co¬ religionists to the authorities. This catena of laws which aims at nothing less than extermination is of singular moment.

About 660 arose the Paulicians, a Manichsean sect, who rejected the Old Testament, the Sacraments, and the Priest¬ hood. In 835 it was realized that the government of this body was political and aimed at revolution and red anarchy. In 970 John Zimisces fixed their headquarters in Tlirace. In 1115 Alexis Comnenus established himself during the winter at Philippopolis, and avowed his intention of convert¬ ing them, the only result being that the heretics were driven westward and spread rapidly in France and Italy.

The Bogomiles were also Manichees. They openly wor¬ shipped Satan, repudiating Holy Mass and the Passion, rejecting Holy Baptism for some foul ceremony of their own, and possessing a peculiar version of the Gospel of S. John. As Cathari these wretches had their centre for France at Toulouse ; for Germany at Cologne ,* whilst in Italy, Milan, Florence, Orvieto, and Viterbo were their rallying-points. Their meetings were often held in the open air, on mountains, or in the depths of some lope valley; the ritual was very secret, but we know that at night they celebrated their Eucharist or Consolamentum, when all stood in a circle round a table covered with a white cloth and numerous torches were kindled, the service being closed by the reading of the first seventeen verses of their transfigured gospel. Bread was broken, but there is a tradition that the words of consecration were not pronounced according to the Christian formula; in some instances they were altogether omitted.

During the eleventh century, then, there began to spread throughout Europe a number of mysterious organizations whose adherents, in a secrecy that was all but absolute, practised obscure rites embodying their beliefs, the central


24 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

feature of which was the adoration of the evil principle, the demon. But what is this save Satanism, or in other words Witchcraft ? It is true that when these heresies came into sharp conflict with the Catholic Church they developed on lines which lost various non-essential accretions and Eastern subtleties of extravagant thought, but the motive of the Manichsean doctrines and of Witchcraft is one and the same, and the punishment of Manichees and of witches was the same death at the stake. The fact that these heretics were recognized as sorcerers will explain, as nothing else can, the severity of the statutes against them, evidence of no ordinary depravity, and early in the eleventh century Manichee and warlock are recognized as synonymous.

The sorcery of the Middle Ages, says Carl Haas, a learned and impartial authority, was born from the heresies of earlier epochs, and just as Christian authority had dealt with heresy, so did it deal with the spawn witchcraft. Both alike are the result of doubts, of faithlessness, a disordered imagination, pride and presumption, intellectual arrogance ; sick phantasy both, they grow and flourish apace in shadow and sin, until right reasoning, and sometimes salutary force, are definitely opposed to them. The authors of the Malleus Maleficarum clearly identify heresy and Witchcraft. When the Prince Bishop of Bamberg, John George II Fuchs von Dornheim, (1623-33), built a strong prison especially for sorcerers, the Drudenhaus, he set over the great door a figure of Justice, and inscribed above Vergil’s words : Discite iustitiam moniti et non terrmere Dims (JEneid , VI, 620),

(Behold, and learn to practise right,

Nor do the blessed Gods despite).

To the right and the left were engraved upon two panels, the one Latin, the other German, two verses from the Bible, 3 Kings ix. 8, 9; which are Englished as follows : c< This house shall be made an example of: every one that shall pass by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and say : Why hath the Lord done thus to this land, and to this house ? And they shall answer : Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and followed strange gods, and adored them, and worshipped them : therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil'-” This is a concise summary of the basic reason for the


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 25

prosecution of witches, the standpoint of Christian authority, whose professors justly and logically regarded sorcery as being in essence heresy, to be suppressed by the same measures, to be punished with the same penalties.

In connexion with the close correlation between Witch¬ craft and heresy there is a very remarkable fact, the signifi¬ cance of which has—so far as I am aware—never been noted. The full fury of prosecution burst over England during the first half of the seventeenth century, that is to say, shortly after the era of a great religious upheaval, when the work of rehabilitation and recovery so nobly initiated by Queen Mary I had been wrecked owing to the pride, lust, and baseness of her sister. In Scotland, envenomed to the core with the poison of Calvin and Knox, fire and cord were seldom at rest. It is clear that heresy had brought Witchcraft swiftly in its train. Ireland has ever been singularly free from Witchcraft prosecutions, and with the rarest exceptions —chiefly, if not solely, the famous Dame Alice Kyteler case of 1324—the few trials recorded are of the seventeenth century and engineered by the Protestant party. The reason for this exemption is plain. Until the stranger forced his way into Ireland, heresy had no foothold there. That the Irish firmly believed in witches, we know, but the Devil’s claws were finely clipped.

In 1022 a number of Maniehees were burned alive by order of Robert I. They had been condemned by a Synod at Orleans and refused to recant their errors. 52 A contemporary document clearly identifies them with witches, worshippers of the Demon, who appeared to them under the form of an animal. Other abominable rites are fully set forth, com¬ parable to the pages of Sprengcr, Bodin, Boguet, De Lancre, Guazzo, and the rest. The account runs as follows : “ Before we proceed to other details I will at some length inform those who are as yet ignorant of these matters, how that food which they call Food from Heaven is made and provided. On certain nights of the year they all meet together in an appointed house, each one of them carrying a lantern in his hand. They then begin to sing the names of various demons, as though they were chanting a litany, until suddenly they perceive that the Devil has appeared in the midst of them in the shape of some animal or other. As he would seem to be


26 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


visible to them all in some mysterious way they immediately extinguish the lights, and each one of them as quickly as he can seizes upon the woman, who chances to be nearest at hand. . . . When a child happens to be born ... on the eighth day they all meet together and light a large fire in their midst, and then the child is passed through the fire, ceremonially, according to the sacrifices of the old heathen, and finally is burnt in the flames. The ashes are collected and reserved, with the same veneration as Christians are wont to reserve the Blessed Sacrament, and they give those who are on the point of death a portion of these ashes as if it were the Viaticum. There appears to be such power infused by the Devil into the said ashes that a man who belongs to these heretics and happens to have tasted even the smallest quantity of these ashes can scarcely ever be per¬ suaded to abandon his heresies and to turn his thoughts towards the true path. It must suffice to give only these details, as a warning to all Christians to take no part in these abominations, and God forbid that curiosity should lead anybody to explore them.” 58

At Forfar, in 1661, Helen Guthrie and four other witches exhumed the body of an unbaptised infant, which was buried in the churchyard near the south-east door of the church, “ and took severall peices thereof, as the feet, hands, a pairt of the head, and a pairt of the buttock, and they made a py thereof, that they might eat of it, that by this meanes they might never make a confession (as they thought) of their witchcraftis.” 54

The belief of 1022 and 1661 is the same, because it is the same organization. The very name of the Vaudois, stout heretics, survives in Voodoo worship, which is, in effect, African fetishism or Witchcraft transplanted to America soil.

In 1028'Count Alduin burned a number of Manichees at Angoul&me, and the chronicle runs : “ Interea iussu Alduini flammis exustae sunt mulieres malefic® extra urbem.” 55 (About this time certain evil women, heretics, were burned without the city by the command of Alduin.) The Templars, whose Order was suppressed and the members thereof executed on account of their sorceries, were clearly a Society of Gnostic heretics, active propagandists, closely


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 27

connected with the Bogomiles and the Mandseans or Johannites . 56

It is true that in his recent study The Religion of the Manichees , 57 Dr. F. G. Buskitt, with a wealth of interesting detail and research, has endeavoured to show that the Bogomiles, the Cathari, the Albigenses, and other unclean bodies only derived fragments of their teaching from Manx- chsean sources, and he definitely states “ I think it misleading to call these sects, even the Albigensians, by the name of Manichees. 5 ’ But in spite of his adroit special pleading the historical fact remains ; although we may concede that the abominable beliefs of these various Gnostics were perhaps a deduction from, or a development of, the actual teaching of ManL Yet none the less their evil was contained in his heresy and a logical consequence of it.

In the early years of this century important discoveries of Manichaean MSS. have been made. Three or four scientific expeditions to Chinese Turkestan brought back some thou¬ sands of fragments, especially from the neighbourhood of a town called Turf an. Many of these screeds are written in the peculiar script of the Manichees, some of which can be deciphered, although unfortunately the newly found docu¬ ments are mere scraps, bits of torn books and rolls, and written in languages as yet imperfectly known. Much of the new doctrine is of the wildest and most fantastic theosophy, and the initiate were, as we know, sufficiently cunning not to commit the esoteric and true teachings to writing, but preferred that there should be an oral tradition. One important piece, the Khuastuanift , i.e. u Confession/* has been recovered almost in its entirety. It is in the old Turkestan Turkish language, and seems full of the most astounding contradictions or paradoxes, a consensus of double meanings and subtleties.

The question is asked whether we ought to consider Mani- chseism as an independent religion or a Christian heresy ? Eznih of Kolb, the Armenian writer of the fifth century, when attacking Zoroastrianism, obviously treats Manichaeism as a variety of Persian religion. The orthodox documents, however, from Mark the Deacon onwards treat Manichseism as in the main a Christian heresy and this is assuredly the correct view. There is in existence a polemical fragment, a


28 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


single ill-preserved pair of leaves, in which the Manichaean writer pours forth horrid blasphemies and vilely attacks those who call Mary’s Son (Bar Maryam) the Son of Adonay.

It may be worth while here to say just a word correcting a curious old-fashioned misapprehension which once pre¬ vailed in certain quarters concerning the Albigenses, an error of which we occasionally yet catch the echoes, as when Mrs. Grenside wrote that the Albigenses were “ a sect of the 14th century which, owing to their secret doctrine, endured much ecclesiastical persecution.” 58 The impression left, and it is one which was not altogether uncommon some seventy years ago, is that the Albigensian was a stern old Protestant father, Bible and sword in hand, who defended his hearth and home against the lawless brigands spurred on to attack him by priestly machinations. Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth. The Albigensian was a Satanist, a worshipper of the powers of evil, and he would have found short shrift indeed, fire and the stake, in Puritan England under Cromwell, or in Calvinistic Scotland had his practices been even dimly guessed at by the Kirk. As Dr. Arendzen well says 59 : “ Albigensianism was not really a heresy against Christianity and the Catholic Church, it was a revolt against nature, a pestilential perversion of human instinct.”

Towards the end of the nineteenth century a Neo-Gnostic Church was formed by Fabre des Essarts, but that great pontiff Leo XIII promptly condemned it with fitting severity as a recrudescence of the old Albigensian heresy, complicated by the addition of new false and impious doctrines. It is said still to have a number of unhappy adherents. These Neo-Gnostics believe that the world is created by Satan, who is a powerful rival to the omnipotence of God. They also preach a dangerous communism, speciously masqued under some such titles as the “ Brotherhood of Man ” or the 6C Brotherhood of Nations.”

In 1900, after a letter from Joanny Bricaud, 60 the patriarch of universal Gnosticism at Lyons, where, in 1918, he was residing at 8, rue Bugeaud, the Neo-Gnostics joined with the Valentinians, a union approved by their pscudo-Couneil of Toulouse in 1908. But some years later Dr. Fugairon of Lyons, who adopted the name of Sophronius, amalgamated


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 29

all the branches,with the exception of the Valentiniaixs,under the name of the Gnostic Church of Lyons . These, however, although excluded, continued to follow their own way of salvation, and in 1906 formally addressed a legal declaration to the Republican Government defending their religious rights of association. Truly might Huysmans tell us that Satanism flourished at Lyons, “ ou toutes les heresies sur- vivent,” cc where every heresy pullulates and is green. 55 These Gnostic assemblies are composed of “ perfected ones, 55 male and female. The modern Valentinians, it is said, have a form of spiritual marriage, bestowing the name of Helen upon the mystic bride. The original founder of this sect, Valentinus, was, according to S. Epiphanius (Hceresis XXXI) born in Egypt, and educated at Alexandria. His errors led to excommunication and he died in Cyprus, about a.d. 160- 161. His heresy is a fantastic medley of Greek and Oriental speculation, tinged with some vague colouring of Chris¬ tianity. The Christology of Valentinus is especially confused. He seems to have supposed the existence of three redeemers, but Christ, the Son of Mary, did not have a real body and did not suffer. Even his more prominent disciples, Heracleon, Ptolemy, Marcos, and Bardesanes, widely differed from their master, as from one another. Many of the writings of these Gnostics, and a large number of excerpts from Valentinus’s own works yet survive.

One or two writers of the nineteenth century remarked that there seemed to be some connexion between certain points of the Sabbat ceremonial and the rites of various pagan deities, which is, of course, a perfectly correct observa¬ tion. For we have seen that Witchcraft as it existed in Europe from the eleventh century was mainly the spawn of Gnostic heresy, and heresy by its very nature embraced and absorbed much of heathendom. In some sense Witchcraft was a descendant of the old pre-Christian magic^but it soon assumed a slightly different form, or rather at the advent of Christianity it was exposed and shown in its real foul essence as the worship of the Evil Principle, the Enemy of Mankind, Satan.

It may freely be acknowledged that there are certain symbols common to Christianity itself and to ancient religions. It would in truth be very surprising if, when


30 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

seeking to propagate her doctrines in the midst of Graeco- Roman civilization, the Church had adopted for her inter¬ course with the people a wholly unknown language, and had systematically repudiated everything that until then had served to give expression to religious feeling.

Within the limits imposed by the conventions of race and culture, the method of interpreting the emotions of the heart cannot be indefinitely varied, and it was natural that the new religion should appropriate and incorporate all that was good in a ritual much of which only required to be rightly interpreted and directed to become the language of the Christian soul aspiring to the one True God. Certain attitudes of prayer and reverence, the use of incense and of lamps burning day and night in the sanctuary, the offering of ex-votos as a testimony to benefits received, all these are man’s natural expressions of piety and gratitude towards a divine power, and it would be strange indeed if their equiva¬ lents were not met with in all religions.

Cicero tells us that at Agrigentum there was a much- venerated statue of Hercules, of which the mouth and chin were worn away by the many worshippers who pressed their lips to it. 61 The bronze foot of the statue of the first Pope, S. Peter, in Rome has not withstood any better the pious kisses of the faithful. Yet he were a very fool who imagined that modern Christians have learned anything from the Sicilian contemporaries of Verres. What is true is that the same thought in analogous circumstances has found natural expression after an interval of centuries in identical actions and attitudes.

Among the Greeks, heroes, reputed to be the mortal sons of some divinity, were specially honoured in the city with which they were connected by birth and through the benefits they had conferred upon it. After death they became the patrons and protectors of these towns. Every country, nay, almost every village, had such local divinities to whom monuments were raised and whom the people invoked in their prayers. The centre of devotion was generally the hero’s tomb, which was often erected in the middle of the agora, the nave of public life. In most cases it was sheltered by a building, a sort of chapel known as ypipov. The celebrated temples, too, were not infrequently adorned with


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 31

a great number of cenotaphs of heroes, just as the shrines of Saints are honoured in Christian churches. 62 More, the translations of the bones or ashes of heroes were common in Greece. Thus in the archonship of Apsephion, 469 B.c., the remains of Theseus were brought from Scyros to Athens, and carried into the city amid sacrifices and every demon¬ stration of triumphal joy. 63 Thebes recovered from Ilion the bones of Hector, and presented to Athens those of (Edipus, to Lebadea those of Arcesilaus, and to Megara those of Aigialeus. 64

The analogy between these ancient practices and Chris¬ tianity may be pushed further yet. Just as, in our own churches, objects that have belonged to the Saints are exposed for the veneration of the faithful, so in the old temples visitors were shown divers curiosities whose connexion with a god or a hero would command their respect. At Minihi Trdguier we may reverence a fragment of the Breviary of S, Yves, at Sens the stole of S. Thomas of Canterbury, at Bayeux the chasuble of S. Regnobert, in S. Maria Maggiore the cincture and veil of S. Scholastica ; so in various localities of Greece were exhibited the cittara of Paris, the lyre of Orpheus, portions of the ships of Agamemnon and iEneas. Can anything further be needed to prove that the veneration of Holy Relics is merely a pagan survival ?

Superficially the theory seems plausible enough, and yet it will not stand a moment before the judgement of history. The cultus of the Saints and their Relics is not an outcome of ancient hero-worship, but of reverence for the Martyrs, and this can be demonstrated without any possibility of question. So here we have two very striking parallels, each of which has an analogous starting-point, two cults which naturally develop upon logical and similar lines, but without any interdependence whatsoever. Needless to say, the unbalanced folklorist, who is in general far too insufficiently equipped for any such inquiry, has rushed in with his theories -—to his own utter undoing. And so, with regard to Witch¬ craft, there appear in the rites of the Sabbat and other hellish superstitions to be ceremonies which are directly derived from heathendom, but this, as a matter of fact, is far from the case. Accordingly we recognize that the thesis of Mss M. A. Murray in her anthropological study The Witch-


32 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Cult in Western Europe,** although worked out with nice ingenuity and no little documentation, is radically and wholly erroneous. Miss Murray actually postulates that “ under¬ lying the Christian religion was a cult practised by many classes of the community 55 which “ can be traced back to pre-Christian times, and appears to be the ancient religion of Western Europe. 55 We are given a full account of the chief festivals of this imaginary cult, of its hierarchy, its organization, and many other details. The feasts and dances —the obscene horrors of the Sabbat—“ show that it was a joyous religion 55 ! It is impossible to conceive a more amazing assertion. Miss Murray continues to say that “ as such it must have been quite incomprehensible to the gloomy Inquisitors and Reformers who suppressed it. 55 The Re¬ formers, for all their dour severity, perfectly well appreciated with what they were dealing, and the Inquisitors, the sons of S. Dominic who was boundless in his charity and of S. Francis, whose very name breathes Christ-like love to all creation, were men of the profoundest knowledge and deepest sympathies, whose first duty it was to stamp out the infection lest the whole of Society be corrupted and damned. Miss Murray does not seem to suspect that Witchcraft was in truth a foul and noisome heresy, the poison of the Manichees. Her “ Dianic cult, 55 which name she gives to this 66 ancient religion 55 supposed to have survived until the Middle Ages and even later and to have been a formidable rival to Christianity, is none other than black heresy and the worship of Satan, no primitive belief with pre-agricultural rites, in latter days persecuted, misinterpreted, and misunderstood* It is true that in the Middle Ages Christianity had—not a rival but a foe, the eternal enemy of the Church Militant against whom she yet contends to-day, the dark Lord of that city which is set contrariwise to the City of God, the Terrible Shadow of destruction and despair.

Miss Murray with tireless industry has accumulated a vast number of details by the help of which she seeks to build up and support her imaginative thesis. Even those that show the appropriation by the cult of evil of the more hideous heathen practices, both of lust and cruelty, which prevailed ^pxong savage or decadent peoples, afford no evidence what¬ soever of any continuity of an earlier religion, whilst by far


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 33


the greater number of the facts she quotes are deflected, although no doubt unconsciously, and sharply wrested so as to be patent of the signification it is endeavoured to read into them. Miss Murray speaks, for example, of witches “ who, like the early Christian martyrs, rushed headlong on their fate, determined to die for their faith and their God/’ 66 And later, discussing the “ Sacrifice of the God/’ a theme which it is interesting and by no means impertinent to note, folklorists have elaborated in the most fanciful manner, basing upon the scantiest and quite contradictory evidence an abundant sheaf of wildly extravagant theories and fables, she tells us that the burning of witches at the hands of the public executioner was a cc sacrifice of the incarnate deity.” 67 One might almost suppose that the condemned went cheer¬ fully and voluntarily to the cruellest and most torturing punishment, for the phrase “ Self-devotion to death ” is used in this connexion. On the contrary, we continually find in the witch-trials that the guilty, as was natural, sought to escape from their doom by any and every means ; by flight, as in the case of Gilles de SilM and Roger de Bricque- ville, companions of Gilles de Rais ; by long and protracted defences, such as was that of Agnes Fynnie, executed in Edinburgh in 1644 ; by threats and blackmail of influential patrons owing to which old Bettie Laing of Pittenween escaped scot-free in 1718 ; by pleading pregnancy at the trial as did Mother Samuel, the Warbois witch, who perished on the gallows 7 April, 1593 ; by suicide as the notorious warlock John Reid, who hanged himself in prison at Paisley, in 1697, Of the theoretical cc Sacrifice of the incarnate deity ” Miss Murray writes : <c This explanation accounts for the fact that the bodies of witches, male or female, were always burnt and the ashes scattered; for the strong prejudice which existed, as late as the eighteenth century, against any other mode of disposing of their bodies ; and for some of the otherwise inexplicable occurrences in connexion with the deaths of certain of the victims.” 68 Three instances are cited to prove these three statements, but it will be seen upon examination that not one of these affords the slightest evidence in support of the triple contention. In the first place we are informed that u in the light of this theory much of the mystery which surrounds the fate of Joan of Arc is o


34 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

explained. 5 ’ How is not divulged, but this is capped by the astounding and indecorous assertion that S. Joan of Arc 66 belonged to the ancient religion, not to the Christian.” It is superfluous to say that there is not a tittle of evidence for such an amazing hypothesis in reference to the Saint.

Gilles de Rais, whose execution is next quoted by Miss Murray in support of her postulate, proves a singularly unfortunate example. We are told that cc like Joan he was willing to be tried for his faith, 55 by which is meant the imaginary “ Dianic cult.” This is a purely gratuitous assertion, not borne out in any way by his behaviour at his trial, nor by the details of any authoritative account or report of the proceedings. Gilles de Rais was hanged on a gibbet above a pyre, but when the heat had burned through the rope the body was quickly taken up from the blazing wood, and afterwards buried in the neighbouring Carmelite church. One may compare the execution of Savonarola and his two fellow friars on 25 May, 1498. They were strangled at the gallows, their bodies committed to the flames, and their ashes carefully gathered and thrown into the Arno. Gilles de Rais was condemned by three distinct courts ; by the Holy Inquisition, the presidents being Jean de Males troit, Bishop of Nantes, and Jean Blouyn, vice-inquisitor, O.P., S.T.M., on charges of heresy and sorcery; by the episcopal court on charges of sacrilege and the violation of ecclesiastical rights ; by the civil court of John V, Duke of Brittany, on multiplied charges of murder.

The third case quoted by Miss Murray is that of Major Weir, who cc offered himself up and was executed as a witch in Edinburgh.” Thomas Weir, who was a hypocritical Puritan, a leader cc among the Presbyterian strict sect, 55 and regarded as a Saint throughout Edinburgh, had all the while secretly led a life of hideous debauchery and was stained with the most odious and unnatural crimes. In 1670, which was the seventieth year of his age, he appears to have been stricken with terrible fits of remorse and despair ; the pangs of his guilty conscience drove him to the verge of madness and his agony could only be eased by a full, ample, and public confession of his misdeeds. For a few months his party, in order to avoid the scandal and disgrace, contrived


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 35


to stifle the matter, but a minister “ whom they esteemed more forward than wise 55 revealed the secret to the Lord Provost of the city, and an inquiry was instituted. The wretched old man, insistently declaring that 66 the terrors of God which were upon his soul urged him to confess and accuse himself/ 5 was arrested, together with his crazy sister Jean, who was implicated in his abominations. 44 All the while he was in prison he lay under violent apprehension of the heavy wrath of God, wliich put him into that which is properly called despair, 55 and to various ministers who visited him he declared, 4 4 1 know my sentence of damnation is already sealed in Heaven . . . for I find nothing within me but blackness, darkness, Brimstone, and burning to the bottom of Hell. 55 09 The whole account gives a complete and perfectly comprehensible psychological study. So sudden a revulsion of feeling, the loathing of foul acts accompanied by the sheer inability to repent of them, is quite under¬ standable in a septuagenarian, worn out in body by years of excess and enfeebled in mind owing to the heavy strain of hourly acting an artificial and difficult role. The intense emotionalism of the degenerate has not infrequently been observed eventually to give way to a state of frenzied anguish, for which the alienist Magnan coined the name 44 Anxiomania, 55 a species of mental derangement that soon drives the patient to hysterical confession and boundless despair. 44 1 am convinced, 55 says one writer with regard to Major Weir, cc of the prisoner having been delirious at the time of his trial. 55 70 His sister frantically accused her brother of Witchcraft, but it is remarkable that in his case this charge was not taken up and examined. I do not say that Weir was not supposed to be a warlock ; as a matter of fact he was notoriously reputed such, and strange stories were told of his magic staff and other enchantments, but Witch¬ craft was not the main accusation brought against him in the official courts. He was found guilty of adultery, forni¬ cation, incest, and bestiality, and on these several counts sentenced to be strangled at a stake betwixt Edinburgh and Leith, on Monday, 11 April, 1670, and his body to be burned to ashes. Jean Weir was condemned for incest and Witch¬ craft and hanged on 12 April in the Grassmarket at Edin¬ burgh. To the last this miserable lunatic placed 44 a great


86 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

deal of confidence in her constant adherence to the Covenant, which she called the cause and interest of Christ ”* 71

It will be seen that Miss Murray’s citation is incorrect and therefore impertinent. Major Weir was not executed “as a witch . 53 Moreover, both he and Gilles de Rais were actually strangled, and such examples must entirely fail to account “ for the fact that the bodies of witches, male or female, were always burnt and the ashes scattered,” especially since in the latter case, as we have noticed, the body was honour¬ ably buried in the church of the Whitefriars. In fine, to endeavour to connect, however ingeniously, the fate of S. Joan of Arc, the execution of Gilles de Rais and Major Weir, with the folklorists’ theory of “the sacrifice of the incarnate deity 55 is merest fantasy.

The gist of the whole matter lies elsewhere. Death at the stake was the punishment reserved for heretics. As we have already noticed, Diocletian ruthlessly burned the Manichees : “ We order then that the professors and teachers be punished with the utmost penalties, which is to say they are to be burned with fire together with all their execrable books and writings .” 72 The Visigoth code condemned pagans or heretics who had committed sacrilege to the flames, and together with them it grouped all Manichees : “ It is known that many Proconsuls have thrown blasphemers to the beasts, ray, have even burned some alive .” 73 The Visigoth code of Rekeswmth ( 652 - 672 ) punishes Judaizers with death, “ aut lapide puniatur, aut igne cremetur.” (Let them be stoned or burned with fire.) Rut it was actually in the eleventh century that the civil power first generally ordained the penalty of the stake for the heretics, who were, it must always be remembered, mad anarchists endeavouring to destroy all social order, authority, and decency. “ In Italy even many adherents of this pestilential belief were found, and these wretches were slain with the sword or burned at the stake ,” 74 writes Adh^mar de Chabannes, a monk of Angou- leme, about the middle of the eleventh century. In a letter of Wazon, Bishop of Liege, there is an allusion to similar punishments which were being inflicted in Flanders.

A striking example of the heretical anarchists who troubled Europe about the beginning of the twelfth century may be seen in Tanehelm 76 and his followers. This fanatic, who


THE WITCH : HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 37


was originally a native of Zealand, journeyed throughout Flanders preaching his monstrous doctrines everywhere he could find listeners and especially concentrating upon the city of Antwerp. In 1108 and 1109 he appeared at Arras and Cambrai, persuading many evil and ignorant persons to accept his abominable tenets. The tares were thickly sown, and it is terribly significant that some three centuries later, about 1469, there was a fearful epidemic of sorcery throughout the whole district of the Artois, in reference to which the anonymous author—probably an Inquisitor—of a contem¬ porary work entitled Erreurs des Gazariens ou de ceux que Von prouve chevaucker sur un balai ou un baton expressly identified such heretics as the Gazariens, who are Cathari, and the Vaudois (Poor Lombards) with warlocks and sorcerers. In 1112 Tanchelin, who had actually visited Rome itself, was upon his return arrested and thrown into prison at Cologne, whence, however, he managed to escape, and accompanied by an apostate priest Everwacher and a Jew Manasses, who had formerly been a blacksmith, at the head of a formidable band of three thousand ruffians, outlaws, cast gamesters, brigands, murderers, beggars and thieves, the parbreak of every slum and stew, he terrorized the whole countryside, the people being afraid, the bishops and secular princes seemingly unable to resist him.

The teaching of Tanchelin was, as might be expected, largely incoherent and illogical, the ravings of a frantic brain, but none the less dangerous and wholly abominable. The Church was, of course, directly attacked and blasphemed. With abuse and foul language, extraordinarily like the language of the so-called Reformers in the sixteenth century, the hierarchy and all ecclesiastical order were repudiated and contemned, priests and religious in particular were to be persecuted and exterminated since the priesthood was a fiction and a snare ; the Sacrifice of Holy Mass was a mockery, all Sacraments were void and empty forms, useless for salvation 70 ; the churches themselves were to be accounted as brothels and markets of shame. “ This very spawn of Satan and black angel of woe declared that the churches, dedicated to God’s worship, were bawdy-houses. That, at Holy Mass there was no Sacrifice at the hands of the priest; the Service of the Altar was filth, not a Sacrament/ 577


38 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

Tanchelin declared himself to be the Messiah, God, the Son of God, the Perfect Man, the sum of all the divine emanations in one system, upon whom had descended and in whom abode the pleroma of the Holy Spirit. “ This miserable wretch advanced from evil to evil and at length proceeded to such an extremity of unheard-of wickedness that he gave himself out to be God, asserting that if Christ be God because the Ploly Ghost dwelt in Him, he himself was not less than and of the same nature as God, seeing that he enjoyed the plenitude of the Holy 7 Ghost. 55 78 Here the Gnostic character of his teaching is very apparent. He even caused a temple to be erected in his honour where he was worshipped with sacrifice and hymns. His followers, indeed, regarded this lunatic wretch with such an excess of veneration that the dirty water from his bath was actually collected in phials and solemnly distributed among them, whereof they partook as of a sacrament.

It must be borne in mind that Tanchelin 5 s programme did not solely comprise a negation of Christian dogma ; this we find in most of the innovators at the time of the so-called Reformation, but his ultimate aim was to effect a social revolution, to overturn the existing order of things and produce communistic chaos with himself as overlord and dictator. The way for anarchy could only have been paved by the destruction of the Church, the supreme representa¬ tive of authority and order throughout the world, and it was accordingly against the Church that this superman launched his fiercest diatribes. To further his ends he encouraged, nay, commanded, the open practice of the foulest vices; incest, adultery, fornication were declared to be works of spiritual efficacy; unmentionable abominations flaunted themselves in the face of day; virtue became an offence; men were driven to vice and crime, and anon they gradually sank in a stupor of infamy and sheer boneless degradation.

The unfortunate town of Antwerp came directly under Tanchelin 5 s influence. Here he reigned as king, surrounded by vile and obsequious satellites who ground the miserable citizens to the dust and filled each street and corner with orgies of lust and blood. There is a strange and striking parallel between the details of his foul career and the Russian tyranny to-day. Little wonder that in 1116 a priest,


THE WITCH: HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 39


maddened by the outrages and profanities of this hellish crew, scattered the heretic’s brains upon the deck of his royal barge as one afternoon he was sailing in pompous state down the river Schelde : 6 6 After a life of infamy, bloodshed, and heresy, whilst he was sailing on the river he was struck on the head by a certain priest and falling down died there.” 79 All un¬ fortunately, however, the pernicious errors of Tanchelin did not expire with their author. Antwerp remained plunged in dissipation and riot, and although strenuous efforts were made to restore decency and order, at first these seemed to be entirely nugatory and fruitless. Bur chard, the Bishop of Cambrai, at once sent twelve of his most revered and learned canons under the conduct of Hidolphe, a priest of acknowledged sagacity and experience, to endeavour to reform the town by word and example, but it seemed as though their efforts were doomed to failure and ill-success. At length, almost in despair, the good prelate begged S. Norbert, 80 who some three years before had founded his Order at Premontre, to essay the thankless and wellnigh impossible task. Without demur or hesitation the Saint cheerfully undertook so difficult a mission and accompanied only by S. Evermonde, 81 and Blessed Waltman, together with a few more of his most fervent followers he arrived at Antwerp without delay to begin his work there towards the end of 1123. Success at once crowned his efforts ; in an incredibly short space of time the people confessed their errors, abuses were reformed, the leprous town cleansed of its foulness, public safety, order, and decorum once again established, and, what is extremely striking to notice, the old chroniclers draw attention to the fact that a large number both of men and women in deepest penitence brought to S. Norbert quantities of consecrated Hosts which they had purloined from the tabernacles and kept concealed in boxes and other hiding-places to utilize for charms and evil invocations, to profane in devil-worship and at the Sabbat. So marvellous was the change from darkness to light that year by year the Premonstratensian Order upon the Saturday 82 after the Octave of Corpus Christi solemnly observes a fitting memorial thereof in the glad Feast of the Triumph of Holy Father Norbert.

In this incident of the stolen Hosts the connexion between


40 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Gnostic heresy and Satanism is clearly seen. It was in such soil as the antinomlanism of Tanchelin that the poisoned weeds of sorcery would thrive apace. The authorities recog¬ nized that drastic measures must be employed, and at Bonn a company of impure fanatics who attempted to disseminate his ideas were incontinently sent to the stake.

The other arguments brought forward by Miss Murray to support her thesis of the continuity of a primitive religion are mainly 44 the persistence of the number thirteen in the Covens, the narrow geographical range of the domestic familiar, the avoidance of certain forms in the animal trans¬ formations, the limited number of personal names among the women-witches, and the survival of the names of some of the early gods. 5583 Even if these details could be proved up to the hilt and shown to be pertinent the evidence were not convincing ; it would at best point to some odd survivals, such as are familiar in an hundred ways to every student of hagiography, history, myths and legends, old religions, geography, iconography, topography, etymology, anthro¬ pology, and antiquarian lore in a myriad branches. If we examine the matter broadly we shall find that these circumstances are for the most part local, not general, that in many instances they cannot be clearly substantiated, for the evidence is conflicting and obscure.

44 The 4 fixed number 9 among the witches of Great Britain,” Miss Murray notes, 44 seems to have been thirteen,” 84 and certainly in many cases amongst the English trials the coven appears to have consisted of thirteen members, although it may be borne in mind that very probably there were often other associates who were not traced and involved and so escaped justice. Yet Miss Murray does not explain why the number thirteen should form any link with an earlier ritual and worship. On the other hand, the demonologists are never tired of insisting that Satan is the ape of God in all things, and that the worshippers of evil delight to parody every divine ordinance and institution. The explanation is simple. The number thirteen was adopted by the witches for their covens in mockery of Our Lord and His Apostles.

44 The narrow geographical range of the domestic familiar ” is not at all apparent, and It were futile to base any pre¬ sumption upon so slender a line of argument. 64 The avoidance


THE WITCH: HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 41


of certain forms in the animal transformation 55 is upon a general view of Witchcraft found to be nothing other than the non-occurrence of the lamb and the dove, and these two were abhorred by sorcerers, seeing that Christ is the Lamb of God, Agnus Dei, whilst the Dove is the manifestation of the Holy Ghost. 85 There is one instance, the trail of Agnes Wobster at Aberdeen in 1597, when the Devil is said to have appeared to the witch cc in the liknes of a lamb, quhom thou callis thy God, and bletit on the, and thaircftir spak to the. 5 ’ 86 But this rare exception must be understood to be a black and deformed lamb, not the snow-white Agnus Dei. In pictures of the Doctors of the Church, particularly perhaps S. Gregory the Great and S. Alphonsus de Liguori, the Dove is seen breathing divine inspiration into the car of the Saint who writes the heavenly message, thus directly given by God the Holy Ghost. So in a Franco-German miniature of the eleventh century in the TIortus Deliciarum we see a black hideous bird breathing into the ear of a magician thoughts evil and dark. This cloudy and sombre spirit, violent in its attitude and lean in body stretches its meagre throat towards the ear of the wicked man, who, seated at a desk, transcribes upon a parchment the malevolent and baleful charms which it dictates. It is in fact the Devil. 87

With reference to the argument based upon “ the limited number of personal names among the women-witches 55 this simply resolves itself into the fact that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there were in general use (particularly amongst the peasantry) far fewer personal names than have been employed.,of more recent years. To assert “ that the name Christian clearly indicates the presence of another religion ” 88 is simple nonsense. It may be noticed, too, how many of the names which Miss Murray has catalogued in such conscientious and alas ! impertinent detail are those of well-known Saints whose cult was universal throughout Europe : Agnes, Alice, Anne, Barbara, Christopher, Collette, Elizabeth, Giles, Isabel, James, John, Katherine, Lawrence, Margaret, Mary, Michael, Patrick, Thomas, Ursula—and the list might be almost indefinitely prolonged.

“ The survival of the names of some of the early gods 55 is also asserted. In connexion with Witchcraft, however, very few examples of this can be traced even by the most careful


42 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


research. An old charm or two, a nonsense rhyme, may now and again repeat some forgotten meaningless word or refrain. Thus in a spell used by the witches of the Basses-Pyrenees, cited by De Lancre (1609), we find mention of the old Basque deity Janicot: 44 In nomine patrica, Aragueaco Petrica,

Gastellaco lanicot, Equidae ipordian pot. 59 Bodin gives a dance-jingle, 44 Har, har, diable, diable, saute icy, saute la, ioiie icy, ioue 14," to which the chorus was 46 sabath sabath.” Miss Murray tells us that the Guernsey version 44 which is currently reported to be used at the present day, 55 runs : 44 Har, har, Hon, Hon, danse ici." 89 Hon was an old Breton god, and there are still remote districts whose local names recall and may be compounded with that of this ancient deity. It is significant that in one case we have a Basque deity, in the other a Breton ; for Basque and Breton are nearly, if obscurely, correlated. Such traces are interesting enough, but by no means unique, hardly singular indeed, since they can be so widely paralleled, and it were idle to base any elaborate argument concerning the continuity of a fully organized cult upon slight and unrelated survivals in dialect place-names and the mere doggerel lilt of a peasant-song.

There is in particular one statement advanced by Miss Murray which goes far to show how in complete unconscious¬ ness she is fitting her material to her theory. She writes : 44 There is at present nothing to show how much of the Witches 9 Mass (in which the bread, the wine, and the candles were black) derived from the Christian ritual and how much belonged to the Dianic cult [the name given to this hypo¬ thetical but universal ancient religion] ; it is, however, possible that the witches 9 service was the earlier form and influenced the Christian." 90 This last sentence is in truth an amazing assertion, A more flagrant case of hysteron- proteron is hardly imaginable. So self-evident is the absurdity that it refutes itself, and one can only suppose that the words were allowed to remain owing to their having been over¬ looked in the revision of a long and difficult study, a venial negligence. Every prayer and every gesture of Holy Mass, since the first Mass was celebrated upon the first Maundy Thursday, has been studied in minutest detail by generations of liturgiologists and ceremonialists, whose .library is almost infinite in its vastness and extent from the humblest


THE WITCH: HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 43


pamphlets to the hugest folios. We can trace each inspired development, when such an early phrase was added, when such a hallowed sign was first made at such words in such an orison. The witches’ service is a hideous burlesque of Holy Mass, and, briefly, what Miss Murray suggests Is that the parody may have existed before the thing parodied. It Is true that some topsy-turvy writers have actually pro¬ claimed that magic preceded religion, but this view is generally discredited by the authorities of all schools. Sir James Frazer, Sir A. L. Lyall, and Mr. F. B. Jevons, for example, recognize cc a fundamental distinction and even opposition of principle between magic and religion.” 91

In fine, upon a candid examination of this theory of the continuity of some primitive religion, which existed as an underlying organization manifested in Witchcraft and sorcery, a serious rival feared and hated by the Church, we find that nothing of the sort ever survived, that there was no connexion between sorcery and an imaginary cc Dianic cult.” To write that in the fifteenth century open war was declared against the last remains of heathenism in the famous Bull of Innocent VIII 5592 is to ignore history. As has been empha¬ sized above, the Bull Summis desideremtes ajfectihus of 1484 was only one of a long series of Papal ordinances directed against an intolerable evil not heathenism indeed, but heresy. For heresy, sorcery, and anarchy were almost interchangeable words, and the first Bull launched directly against the black art was that of Alexander IV, 1258, two hundred and twenty- six years before.

That here and there lingered various old harmless customs and festivities which had come down from pre-Christian times and which the Church had allowed, nay, had even sanctified by directing them to their right source, the Maypole dances, for example, and the Midsummer fires which now honour S. John Baptist, is a matter of common knowledge. But this is no continuance of a pagan cult.

From the first centuries of the Christian era, throughout the Middle Ages, and continuously to the present day there has invariably been'an open avowal of intentional evil-doing on the part of the devotees of the witch-cult, and the more mischief they did the more they pleased their lord and master. Their revels were loathly, lecherous, and abominable, a Sabbat


44 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

where every circumstance of horror and iniquity found ex¬ pression. This in itself is an argument against Miss Murray’s theory, as none of the earlier religions existed for the express purpose of perpetrating evil for evil’s sake. We have but to read the eloquent and exquisite description of the Eleusinian Mysteries by that accomplished Greek scholar Father Cyril Martindale, S.J., 93 to catch no mean nor mistaken glimpse of the ineffable yearning for beauty, for purity, for holiness, which filled the hearts of the worshippers of the goddess Persephoneia, whose stately and impressive ritual prescribing fasts, bathing in the waters of the sea, self-discipline, self-denial, self-restraint, culminated in the Hall of Initiation, hallowed by the Earth-Mother, Dcmeter, where the symbolic drama of life, death, and resurrection was shown by the Hierophant to those who had wrestled, and endured, and were adjudged worthy. How fair a shadow was this, albeit always and ever a shadow, of the imperishable and eternal realities to come ! How different these Mysteries from the foul orgies of witches, the Sabbat, the black mass, the adoration of hell.

In truth it was not against heathenism that Innocent VIII sounded the note of war, but against heresy. There was a clandestine organization hated by the Church, and this was not sorcery nor any cult of witches renewing and keeping green some ancient rites and pagan creed, but a witch-cult that identified itself with and was continually manifested in closest connexion with Gnosticism in its most degraded and vilest shapes.

There is a curious little piece of symbolism, as it may be, which has passed into the patois of the Pyrenees. Wizards are commonly known as poudouh and witches poudoueros , both words being derived from pulerc , which signifies to have an evil smell. The dcmonologists report, and it was com¬ monly believed, that sorcerers could often be detected by their foul and fetid odour. Hagiographers tell that S. Philip Neri could distinguish heretics by their smell, and often he was obliged to turn away his head when meeting them in the street. The same is recorded of many other Saints, and this tradition is interesting as it serves to show the close connexion there was held to be between magic and heresy. 94 Saint Pachomius, the cenobite, could distinguish heretics by


THE WITCH: HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 45


their insupportable stench ; the abbot Eugendis could tell the virtues and vices of those whom he met by the perfume or the stink. Saint Hilarion, as S. Jerome relates, could even distinguish a man’s sins by the smell of a warm garment or cloak.' Blessed Dominica of Paradise, passing a soldier in the street, knew by the foul smell that he had abandoned the faith, to which, however, her fervid exhortations and prayers eventually restored him. Saint Bridget of Sweden was wellnigh suffocated by the fetor of a notorious sinner who addressed her. Saint Catherine of Siena experienced the same sensations ; whilst Saint Lutgarde, a Cistercian nun, on meeting a vicious reprobate perceived a decaying smell of leprosy and disease.

On the other hand, the Saints themselves have diffused sweetest fragrances, and actually “ the odour of sanctity 55 is more than a mere phrase. One day in 156G, when he had entered the church at Somascha, a secluded hamlet between Milan and Bergamo, S. Charles Borromeo exclaimed : “ I know by the heavenly fragrance in this sanctuary that a great Servant of God lies buried here 1 99 The church, in fact, contained the body of S. Jerome Emiliani, who died in 1587. S. Herman Joseph could be traced through the corridors of Steinfeld by the rare perfumes he scattered as he walked. The same was the case with that marvellous mystic S. Joseph of Cupertino. S. Thomas Aquinas smelt of male frankincense. I myself have known a priest of fervent faith who at times diffused the odour of incense. Maria-Vittoria of Genoa, Ida of Louvain, S. Colette, S. Humiliana, were fragrant as sweet flowers. S. Francis of Paul and Venturini of Bergamo scattered heavenly aromas when they offered the Holy Sacrifice. The pus of S. John of the Cross gave forth a strong scent of lilies.

Miss Murray has worked out her thesis with no inconsider¬ able ingenuity, but when details are considered, historically examined, and set in their due proportions, it must be concluded that the theory of the continuity of an ancient religion is baseless. Her book is called A Study in Anthro¬ pology, and here we can, I think, at once put our finger upon the fundamental mistake. Anthropology alone offers no explanation of Witchcraft. Only the trained theologian can adequately treat the subject. 'An amount of interesting


46 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


material has been collected, but the key to the dark mystery could not be found.

Yet, as our investigations have shown, it was "not so far to seek. In the succinct phrase of that profound and prolific scholar Thomas Stapleton 95 : Crescit cum magia haeresis, cum hseresi magia.” (The weed heresy grows alongside the weed witchcraft, the weed witchcraft alongside the weed heresy.)


NOTES TO CHAPTER I.

1 Parts . Jacques du Puys. 4to 1580. TI 10 preface, addressed to Do Thou, is signed : “ Do Laon , co xx four do JJecembre, M D.LXXJX.” There were nine oditions heforo 1604. Tho most complete is Pa? is, 4to. 1587. In addition to tho text it contains ten oxtra pages only found hero giving the trial of a sorcerer, Abel de la Rue, executed in 1582.

2 Tho first Papal bull dealing with sorcery was issued by Alexander IV, IS December, 1258. Tho last Papal Constitution concerned with this crime is that of Urban VIII, Inscrutabilis iwhciorum Dei altitude), 1 April, 1631. The last regular English trial seems to havo boon that of an old woman and her son, acquittod at Leicester in 1717. In 1722 the last execution of a Scottish witch took place at Loth ; both English and Scottish statutes were repealed in 1735. Tho Irish Statute was not repealed until 1821. At Kempt on in Bavaria, a mad heretic, a woman, was executed for sorcery in 1775. In the Swiss canton of Gians, a wench named Anna Goeldi, was hanged as a witch, 17 dune, 1782. Two hags were burned in Poland on the same charge as late as 1793.

3 Roland Rr6vann.es. Les Messes Noires , I Ier tableau, scene vn.

4 I have actually hoard it categorically laid down by a speaker in a Shakespearean debate, a litterateur of professed culture, that tho Elizabethans could not, of course, really have believed in witchcraft.

6 In tho Exhibition of tins artist’s work at tho Leicester Galleries, London, m March, 1925:

8 . . . qu’olle, & sa mere montoiont sur vne ramasse, & que sortans le contrernont do la eliominoo olios alioient par Fair en cos to fa$on au Sabbat. Bog not, Discows , p. 104.

^ Glanvill, Part II. p. 194.

8 Julius Wellhausen. Peste arabischen Ileidenthums, p. 159. Berlin, 1897.

® Apud Miss Murray’s The Witch-Cult. (1921). Appendix V. pp. 279-80.

13 Doguot, Discours. XVI. 4.

11 Benjamin Thorpe, Monumenta Ecclesiastica , II, p, 34. London, 1840. The Liber Pocnilentialis was first published complete by Wasserscldeben in 1851; a convenient edition is Migne, P.L. XCIX.

12 Calendar 0 / State Papers . Domestic, 1584.

13 Sir Walter Scott, Demonology and Witchcraft, Letter V, gives the narrative of this case, but in tho light of later research his version must b© slightly corrected.

14 Pitcairn. I. pt. ii. p, 162.

15 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland , New Series, vol. X. Edinburgh.

18 Sir James Melville, Memoirs . Bannatyno Club, Edinburgh. x>p. 395-6.

47 London. " for William WrigTdP N.D. [1593]. The woodcut is on the title-page verso, and signature fc.ij.] verso. The pages are not numbered.

18 Plying Ointments. Apud Miss Murray’s Witch-Cult in Western Europe , p. 279. It may be noted that tho scandals of tho Black ‘Mass under Louis XIV wore closely concerned with wholesale accusations of poisoning. La Voisin was a notorious vendor of toxic philtres. The possibility of poisoning tho King, the Dauphin, Colbert and others was frequently debated.


THE WITCH: HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 47


19 Dio Cassius. XLIX. 43. p. 756. ed. Sturz.

20 Idem. L1I. 36. p. 149.

21 Suetonius. Augustus. 31.

22 Tacitus. Annates. II. 32. Morepnsco . “ Ut eum infolici arbori alhgatum uirgis csedi, et postremo securi percuti luberent.” Mucet.

23 XII. 32.

24 Suetonius Vitelhus. 14.

2 5 Dio Cassius. LXVI. 10.

20 La Magie et la Sorcellene. Paris. (1912.) I. p 33.

27 Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions , II. p. 117.

28 The dates are as inaccurate as the statements. Giovanni Battista Cibd was elected Pope 29 August, 1484 ; and the Bull was issued in the December of that year, not in 1488.

28 Pise and Influence of Rationalism m Europe , c. 1.

30 Dictionary of Universal Biography . VIII. (1890).

31 A more detailed treatment will be found m the present writer’s The Geography of Witchcraft whore the Bull is given m extenso.

32 Epist c n. 1.

33 Horn , XLVI. c. 1.

34 Sentential mm, 111. iv. mi. 4-6

35 Theodosius II. Noucllce , tit. III. A d 438.

38 Uamssimus [PriseilhanusJ et plus rnsto mflatior profanarum rerum sciontia . quin ot magicas artes ab adoloscentia cum exorcuiss© cieditum est. Sulpicius Sevorus. il 47

37 H. C. Lea m his History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, (1888) I. 215, assorts that Leo I justified the act, and that successive edicts against heresy woro duo to ecclesiastical influence. This is the exact opposite of historical truth, and the writer has not hesitated to transfer words of the Emperor to tho Popo

38 In a sermon published in 1896 by Dorn Morin Revue benSdichne, e. xiii. p. 205.

38 Epistola Ehpandi ad Alcuinum , Mignc. Pat. Lat. CXCVI. p. 872. Aicum. Opera Omnia. Migno Pat. Lat. C-CL, especially Liber Albini contra kceresim Eehcis ; Libn Vll aduersus Fehccm ; Aduersus Elipandum Libn IV. Florez, Espaha sagrada . V. p. 662. Menondcz y Pelayo, Histoma de los hetcrodoxos cspaholes, Madrid, 1880, I. p. 274

40 The martyrdom of S. Peter is a well-known subject in art. Titian’s masterpiece in the Dominican church of SS. Giovanni © Paolo at Venice was destroyed by a firo on 16 August, 1867. But there aro exquisite paintings of tho sceno by Lorenzo Lotto and Bellini. S. Peter, whose shrmo is m San Eustorgio, Milan, was canonized 25 March, 1253, by Innocent IV. Major Feast, 29 April.

41 Muratori. Antiquitates italiem medii ceui, Milan, 1738-42.

42 Gabriel Rossetti, Disquisitions , vol. I. p. 27.

43 Gervasius Dorobernonsxs, Chronicon.

44 Vita S. Romance n. 10 ; Acta SS. die, 3 Oct. p. 138. S. Gregorii VII. Lib. I. Epistola 75, ad Phihppum .

45 Lab be. Sacrosancta concilia . 18 vols. folio. 1671. Vol. X. col. 84.

46 Quarum rerum rox uester, qui non rex sed tyrannus dicendus est, suadente diabolo, caput et causa est, qui omnem aetatom suam fagitiis et facinonbus polluit. Idem , vol. X. col. 72.

47 Sane . . . prouinciali ordmis praedicatorum in ©odem regno dedimus in raandatis, ut aliquibus fratribus suis aptis ad hoc, inquisitionem contra illos committeret in regno prsefato . . . fraternitati tusc , . . mandamus quatenus , . . per alios qui ad hoc idonei uidebuntur, festinea . . . procedere in inquisitionis negofcio et ad dominicum certamen accingi. Ripoll et Bremond, Bullarium ordims S. Dommici , I. p. 80. (8 vols. Roman 1737, sqq.).

48 Fratres . . - qui ad praedicandum crucem uel inquirendum^ contra prauitatem hsereticam . . . sunt deputati. Wadding- Annates Minorum. ed. secuncla. 24 vols. Romse, 1732, sqq. III. 144.

48 Gnostic Heresies.

30 Jules Bois. Le Satanisme et la Magie , c. 6.


48 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


51 it is true that S. Augustiuo does not bring a charge of depravity against the MamciiGeans, but they veiled their vices with the greatest caution, and S. Augustine was simply a catechumen, one of the Auditors, who would have known nothing of these esoteric abominations.

52 Extra ciuitatis educti muros in quo dam tugunolo copioso igne accenso . . . cremati stmt. Gesta synods Am eliancusis. Arnould. 1? Inquisition. (Pans, 1869). VI p. 46.

53 Sed antequain ad con dictum uemamus, de cibo illo, qm coolest is ah llhs dicebatur, quah arte condciebatur, nescientibus domonstrare curabo. Con- groga bant ur si quidom cert is noetibus m dome denoimnata, smguli lucernas tone ales m mambus, ad m star loianiin demonum nomina declarnabant, donee subito Damiononi m sirmlitiuli.no cuiuslibot bestioho inter eos uiderent doaeondore. Qui statun, ut msibiiis ille uidcbatur msio, omnibus extinetis luminaribus, quampnmum quisqtio potorat, muliorom, quae ad mairam sibi uoniebat, ad abutendum arnpiebat, sino pcccati respoctu, ot utrum mater, aut soror, aut monacha haberotur, pro sanctitate ot religion© oius concubitus ab illis flofatimabatur ; ox quo spurcissimo concubitu ntfans goneratus, octaua die in medio oorum copioso igne aeccnso probabatui per ignom more anti¬ quorum Paganorum , ot sic m igno cromabatur. Cuius emia tanta uonorationo colli gobatur atquo custodiobatur, ut Christiana rehgiositas Corpus Christ] ouatodiro solot, icgris dandum do hoc srcculo oxitims ad uiaticum. Inorat emm tanta ms diabolical fraud is in ipso cinoro ut quicumque de priofala Xnerosi irnbutus fuissot, ot do oodom cinoro quamuis sumondo parum pradi- baiusset, uix imquarn postoa do oadonx horesi grossum mentis ad mam uontath dirigero uaierot. Do qua ro parum dixisso sufiiciat, ut Clmsticoho cauoant so ab hoc nofano oporo, non ut studoant soctando nnitari Schmidt. Histoin a 5 doctrine des Calhares ou A Ibigeois. Pans. 1849. I. p. 31.

61 O. R. Kmloeh. Reliquiae Antiqum Seoticce. Edinburgh, 1848

50 Adhtimar do Ohabanues. (A monk of Angoulome ) Ghromcon , Mecueii dcs historians, vol. X. p. 163.

06 Fabro Palaprat. liccherches Historiqucs sur les Temphirs , Paris. 1835.

57 Cambridge University Press, 1925.

58 The Philosopher, duly-August, 3 924.

09 The Philosopher , January-March, 1925. The Albigenses, pp. 20-25 The whole article, which is written with extraordinary restraint, should be road.

60 lie is the author of Elements (VAstrologie ; Un disciple de Ot de Saint Martin , Dutoit-M embrini ; Premiers Elements d'Occultism e ; La petite iSglisi anticoncordatav) c, son histoii e, son tint act it el ; J K. Huysmans et le Satanism e Huysmans, Occultiste et Mayicien.

81 In Uerrem. XV. 43

92 H. Th.. Pyl, Die griechischen Rundhauten, 1801, pp. 67, sqq,

93 Plutarch, Theseus 36 ; Ovmon 8.

61 Pausamas is the chief authority on this point. ►See Bolide Psyche, I

p. 161.

05 Clarendon Press, 1921.

68 The Witch«Gult in Western Europe, p 16. Tt is true that th© Brothrei of the Eroo Spirit, anarchisms, who vaunted the Adamite liorosy, m tin Thirteenth century, wont to the stake with paians of joy. But they won probably drugged. 5. L. Moshoim, Ecclesiastical History, London. 1819 XU. p. 278. sqq, Tlio Adamites were a licentious sect who called their churd Paradise and worshipped in a state of stark nudity. They were Unoetio and claimed complete emancipation from the moral law. They lived b shamotul communism. Bohemian Adamites existed as late as 1849. la Russia the tc.leschi, a branch of the sect known as the “ Divine Mon,” per formed their religious rites in a state of nature, following the example, a they asserted, of Adam and Eve in Paradise. These assemblies were won to end in promiscuous debauchery.

07 Idem. p. 161.

08 Witch-Quit in Western Europe, p. 3 63 .

09 Additional Notices oj Major Weir and his Sister ; Sinelar’s Satan? Invisible World . (Reprint, 1875).


THE WITCH: HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 49


70 Criminal Trials, 1536-1784:; Hugo Amofc, 4to, 1785.

71 Mamllac Mediuius , Dr. George Hickos, 4to, 1678.

72 Iubomua namquo, auctores quidem et principes, una cum abommandis scrip tuns oorum soueriori pconm subnci, ita ufc damme is ignibus exurantur, Baromus, 287, 4.

™ Scio multos [Proconsu[esl et ad bestias damnasse sacrileges, nonnulloa etiam uiuos exussisso. Lex Bomana Vistgothorum nouella , XL VIII. tit. xiii. c. 6-7.

74 Pluros etiam per Italiam tunc huius pestiferi dogmatis sunt reperti, qui aut gladns, aut mcenchis penerunt.

75 Tancholmus, Tandemus, Tanclielmus. The history of this important revolutionary movement has boen carofully studied. The following authori¬ tative books are a few from many of great value and learning. Corpus documentorum Inqmsitioms hereticm prauitatis necrlandicm , cd. Dr. Paul Fr<$derieq, vol I, p. 15 et sqq. Ghent. 1889; Tanchelijn by Janssen in the Annates de Vacadinne Hoy ale d % areheologte de Belgique, vol. XXIII, p. 448 ct sqq. 1867 ; Poppons, His lor la Episcopatus Antumpicnsis , p. 8 and p. 146, Brussel Is, 1717 ; Dierxsens, Anluerpia Christo nascens et crcscens, vol I, p. 88, Antwerp, 1773 ; Porxeolet, Sami Norbert et Tanchelin in the Analecta bollan - dim ana, vol XIII, p. 441, 1893 ; Schools, Saint Norbert et Tanchelin a, Ani'ers in the IJibholhcque norbcrime, vol II, p. 97, 1900; De Sehapper, lUponse & la question : IP antes connailre V heresmi que Tanchelin el les err curs qvPil repancht au commencement du XIII s sieele [an error for XII s sieele ] an the Collattones Biugenses, vol. XVII, p. 107, 1912. L. Vander Kssen, Be Kafieitj van Tanchehn m de XII s eeuw in Ons Gcloof, vol. II, p. 354, 1912 ; Antwerpen en de H Noibeitus in the Bode van Onze In ere Vtouw van het II, He/t van Avcrbode, Nos. 18 and 19, pp. 207-211 and 217-220, 1934.

70 “ That most vile and abandoned scounclrol had become so open and utterly depraved an enemy to the Christian faith and all religious observance that ho denied any respect was due to Bishops and priests ; moreover, he affirmed that the reception of the most holy Body and Blood of Our Lord availed nothing to eternal life and man’s salvation.” “ Brat quidem ill© seoloratissimus et ehristianse fidei et totius roligionis immicus in tantum ut obsoquium opiscoporum et sacerdotum mini esse dicerot, ot sacrosanct! corporisot sanguinis Domini J. C. poreeptionem ad salutem perpetuam prodosso donogoret.” Vita Nobcrti archiepiscopi Magdcburgensw, Vita A. Monument. Germ. Scriptores , vol. XII. p. 690, od. G. A. Pertz, Hanover, Berlin.

77 ** Immo uore ipso angolus Sathanse doclamabat oeeolsias Dei lupinaria esso reputanda. Nihil esse, quod sacerdotum officio m mensa dominion conficoretur; pollutionos, non sacramonta nominanda.” Lettre des chanomes d'Utrecht au nom de leur diocese & Fridiric, archevtque de Cologne . Apud Pr6d4ricq, vol. I. n. 11.

78 Talibus nequitieo successibus miscro homim tanta scoleris accessit audacia, ut etiam s© Deum diceret, asserens, quia, si Cbristus ideo Deus est, quia Spiritual Sanctum habuisset, so non mferius nec dissimilius Deum, quia plenitudmoin Spintus Sancti accepisset. Idem,

79 Qui tandem post multos erroros et caides, dum nauigaret, a quodam presbytero porcussus in cerebro occubuit. Sigiberti continuaiio. Apud Monument. Germ. Sciiplores, vol. VI, p. 449. See also, Johannes Tnthemius, Annales Hirsaugienses, vol. I, p. 387, Saint-Gall, 1690 ; Du Plessis d’Argontr6, Collectio iudimorum, vol I, p. 11 sqq . Paris, 1728; Schmidt, Tlistoire et doctrine des Oathares ou Albigeois , vol. I, p. 49, Paris, 1849.

80 There is a contemporary Uita Norberti of which two recensions have boon published : Uita A. by It. Wxlmans in the Mon. Germ . Hag., SS., vol. XIII, pp. 663-706, Hanover, 1853 ; Uita B. by Surras, Be probatis Sanctorum Ms ton Is, vol. Ill, pp. 517-547, Cologne, 1572. Other authoritative works are; J. Van der Sterso, Uita S. Norberti , Antwerp, 1622; Du Pr6, La Vic du bienhereux saint Norbert , Pans, 1627 ; Ch. Hugo, La Vie de St. Norbert , Luxembourg, 1704; G. Madolaine, Hisloire de St. Norbert, Lille, 1886; B. Wazasek, Der HI. Norbert , Vienna, 1914, An excellent brief but


E


50 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

scholarly account is The Life of S. Norbert , London, 1886, by my lat© rovered friend Abbot Geudeus, CJEt.P.

81 Feast, 17 February.

82 Formerly kept upon the Sunday.

83 Op. cit., pp. 16, 17.

84 Op. cit., p. 191.

85 For a full and detailed statement se© Didron’s groat work, Iconoyraphie chritienne, Pans, 1843.

88 Spalding Club Miscellany , I, p. 129 Aberdeen, 1841.

87 At their Mack mass tho witches of the Bassos-Pyrenbes (1609) when the host was elevated said “ Corbeau now, corboau noir.” DoLancre, Tableau de VInconstance des mauvais Anges, Pans, 1613.

88 Op. cit., p. 265.

89 Op. cit., p. 165. It is not at all evident that “ the word (Liable is clearly Bodin’s own interpellation for the name of the god,” indeed this assumption is purely gratuitous to support tho argument, and cannot be admitted.

90 Op. cit., pp. 14, 15. I would not dwell upon the off ensi venose of this suggestion, since it is, I am sure, unintentional.

91 Golden Bough, Part I, vol. I. p, xx< Third Edition. 1911.

92 Op. cit., p. 19.

83 The Goddess of Ghosts , pp. 137-158.

94 Cassiodorus, Hist. Heel., VII, 11 fin. speaks of the fetidissimus fens of heresy,

85 1535-1598. His works wero collocted in four folio volumos, Paris, 1620, prefaced by Henry Holland’s Uita Thomas Stapletoni , An original portrait is preserved at Douai Abbey, Woolhampton.


CHAPTER II


The Worship of the Witch

In order clearly to understand and fully to realize the shuddering horror and heart-sick dismay any sort of commerce between human beings and evil spirits, which is the very core and kernel of Witchcraft, excited throughout the whole of Christendom, to appreciate why tome after tome was written upon the subject by the most learned pens of Europe, why holiest pontiffs and wisest judges, grave philosopher and discreet scholar, king and peasant, careless noble and earnest divine, all alike were of one mind in the prosecution of sorcery; why in Catholic Spain and in Puritan Scotland, in cold Geneva and at genial Rome, unhesitatingly and perseveringly man sought to stamp out the plague with the most terrible of all penalties, the cautery of fire; in order that by the misreading of history we should not superficially and foolishly think monk and magistrate, layman and lawyer were mere tigers, mad fanatics—for as such have they, too, often been presented and traduced,—it will be not wholly impertinent briefly to recapitulate the orthodox doctrine of the Powers of Darkness, facts nowadays too often forgotten or ignored, but which to the acute mediaeval mind were ever fearfully and prominently in view.

And here, as in so many other beliefs, we shall find a little dogma; certain things that can hardly be denied without the note of temerity ; and much concerning which nothing definite can be known, upon which assuredly no pronounce¬ ment will be made.

In the first place, the name Devil is commonly given to the fallen angels, who are also called Demons. The exact technical distinction between the two terms in ecclesiastical usage may be seen in the phrase used in the decree of the Fourth Lateran Council 1 : “ Diabolus cnim et alii dsemones.” (The devil and the other demons), i.e. all are demons, and

51


52 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


the chief of the demons is called the Devil. This distinction is preserved in in the Vulgate New Testament, where diabolus represents the Greek SiafioXos, and in almost every instance refers to Satan himself, whilst his subordinate angels are described, in accordance with the Greek, as dmmones or dcemonia . But save in some highly specialized context when the most meticulous accuracy is required, we now use the words “ devil/ 3 “ demon 35 indifferently, and employ the definite article to denote Lucifer (Satan), chief of the devils, The Devil. So in S. Matthew xxv, 41, is written 44 the devil and his angels/ 3 The Greek word Sulfioko? means a slanderer, an accuser, and in this sense is it applied to him of whom it is said “ the accuser [6 Kardyopo?] of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night 53 (Apocalypse xii. 10). Thus it answers to the Hebrew name Satan, which signifies an adversary, an accuser.

Mention is made of the Devil in many passages both of the Old and New Testaments, but much is left in obscurity, and the full Scriptural teaching on the legions of evil can best be ascertained by combining the scattered notices and reading them in the light of patristic and theological tradi¬ tion. The authoritative teaching of the Church is declared in the Decrees of the Fourth Lateran Church (cap. 1, Firmiter credimus ), wherein, after setting forth that God inThe begin¬ ning had created two creatures, the spiritual and corporeal; that is to say, the angelic and the earthly, and lastly man, who was made of both earth and body ; the Council con¬ tinues : ct For the Devil and the other demons were created by God naturally good ; but they themselves of themselves became evil. 332 The dogma is here clearly laid down that the Devil and the other demons are spiritual or angelic creatures created by God in a state of innocence, and that they became evil by their own free act. It is added that man sinned by suggestion of the Devil, and that in the next world the reprobate and impenitent will suffer punishment with him. This then is the actual dogma, the dry bones of the doctrine, so to speak. But later theologians have added a great deal to this,—the authoritative Doctor Eximius, Francisco Suarez, S.J., 3 De Angelis, VII, is especially valuable —and much of what they deduce cannot be disputed without


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH 53

such rejection incurring the grave censure technically known as “ Erroneous. 5 ’ 4

It is remarkable that for an account of the Fall of the angels, which happened before the creation of the world, we must turn to the last book in the Bible, the Apocalypse of S. John. For although the picture of the past be blended with prophecies of what shall be in the future, thus must we undoubtedly regard the vision of Patmos. u And there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels : and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the Devil, and Satan, who seduceth the whole world ; and he was cast down unto the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him ” (Apocalypse xii. 7-9). To this may be added the words of S. Jude ; “ And the angels who kept not their principality, but forsook their own habitation, he hath reserved under darkness in everlasting chains, unto the judgement of the great day.” To these references should be added a striking passage from the prophet Isaiah : “ How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, who didst rise in the morning ! how art thou fallen to the earth, that didst wound the nations 1 And thou saidst in thy heart: I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will sit in the mountain of the covenant, in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the most High. But yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, into the depth of the pit ” (Isaiah xiv. 12-15). The words of the prophet may in one sense, perhaps primarily, be directed against Merodach-baladan, King of Babylon, but all the early Fathers and later commentators are agreed in understanding the passage as applying with deeper significance to the fall of the rebel angel. This interpretation is confirmed by the words of Our Lord to His disciples : cc I saw Satan like lightning falling from heaven.” (Uidcbam Satanam sicut fulgur dc coelo cadentem.) S. Luke x. 18.

An obvious question which next arises and which has been amply discussed by the theologians is : What was the nature of the sin of the rebel angels ? This point presents some difficulty, for theology has logically formed the highest


54 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


estimate of the perfection of the angelic nature, the powers and possibilities of the angelic knowledge. Sins of the flesh are certainly impossible to angels, and from many sins which are purely spiritual and intellectual they would seem to be equally debarred. The great offence of Lucifer appears to have been the desire of independence of God and equality with God.

It is theologically certain that Lucifer held a very high rank in the celestial hierarchy, and it is evident that he maintains some kind of sovereignty over those who followed him in his rebellion : “ Si autem,” says Our Lord, “ et

Satanas in selpsum diuisus est quomodo stabit regnum eius ? 55 (If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand ?) And S. Paul speaks of “ Principem potestatis seris huius, qui nunc operatur in filios diffidentise.” (The Prince of the power of this air, who now worlceth in the sons of disobedience) Ephesians ii. 2. It may seem strange that those rebellious spirits who rose against their Maker should be subordinate to and obey one of their fellows who led them to destruction, but this in itself is a proof that Lucifer is a superior intelligence, and the know¬ ledge of the angels would show them that they can effect more mischief and evil by co-operation and organization, although their unifying principle is the bond of hate, than by anarchy and division. There can be little doubt that among their ranks are many mean and petty spirits 5 —to speak comparatively—but even these can influence and betray foolish and arrogant men. We shall be on safe ground if we follow the opinion of Suarez, who would allow Lucifer to have been the highest of all angels negatively, i.e. that no one was higher, although many (and among these the three great Archangels, S. Michael, S. Gabriel, S^Raphael) may have been his equals.

It has been argued that the highest of the angels, by reason of their greater intellectual illumination, must have entirely realized the utter impossibility of attaining to equality with God. So S. Anselm, De Casu Diaboli (IV), says : ce Non enim ita obtusae mentis [diabolus] erat, ut nihil aliud simile Deo cogitari posse nesciret ? 95 (The devil was surely not so dull of understanding as to be ignorant of the incon¬ ceivability of any other entity like to God ?) And S. Thomas


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH 55


writes, in answer to the question, whether the Devil desired to be “as God, 55 “if by this we mean equality with God, then the Devil would not desire it, since he knew this to be impossible.” Rut as the Venerable Duns Scotus, Doctor subtilis, admirably points out, we must distinguish between efficacious volition and the volition of complaisance, and by the latter act an angel could desire that which is impossible. In the same way he shows that, though a creature cannot directly will its own destruction, it may do this consequenter, he. it can will something from which this would inevitably follow.

And although man must realize that he cannot be God, yet there have been men who have caused themselves to be saluted as God and even worshipped as God. Such was Herod Agrippa I, who on a festival day at Caesarea, had himself robed in a garment made wholly of silver, and came into the crowded theatre early in the morning, so that his vesture shone out in the rays of the sun with dazzling light, and the superstitious multitude, taught by his flatterers, cried out that he was a god, and prayed to him as divine, saying: “ Be thou merciful unto us, for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man yet hence¬ forth we own thee to be god.” 6 Caligula, also, arrogated to himself divinity. “ Templum etiam mirnini suo proprium, et sacerdotes et excogitatissimas hostias instituit.” 7 (He also built a temple in honour of his own godhead, and consecrated priests to offer him most splendid sacrifices.) This emperor, moreover, set up his statue in the Temple at Jerusalem, and ordered victims to be sacrificed to him. Domitian, with something more than literary compliment, is addressed by Martial as “ Dominus Deusque noster ” 8 (Our Lord and our God), and he lived up to his title. Heliogabalus identified himself in some mystic way with the deity of Edessa, and ordered no god save himself to be worshipped at Rome, nay, throughout the wide world: “ Taking measures that at Rome no god should be honoured save Heliogabalus alone. . . • Nor did he wish to stamp out only the various Roman cults, but his desire was that all the whole wide world through, only one god, Heliogabalus, should everywhere be wor¬ shipped.” 9 To cite further examples, and they are numerous, from Roman history were superfluous. 10 Perhaps the most


56 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

astounding case of all was that of the 1 Persian king, Khosroes (Khusrau) II, who in the seventh century sacked Jerusalem and carried off the True Cross to his capital. Intoxicated with success he announced by solemn proclamation that he was Almighty God. He built an extraordinary palace or tower, in which there were vast halls whose ceilings were painted with luminous suns, moons, and stars to resemble the firmament. Here he sat upon a lofty throne of gold, a tiara upon his head, his cope so sewn with diamonds that the stuff could not be seen, sceptre and orb in his hands, upon one side the Cross, upon the other a jewelled dove, and here he bade his subjects adore him as God the Father, offering incense and praying him cc Through the Son.” This insane blasphemy was ended when the Persians were van¬ quished by the Emperor Heraclius, and in the spring of 629 the Cross was restored to Jerusalem. 11

Montanus, the Phrygian heretic of the second century, who had originally, as S. Jerome tells us, been a priest of Cybele, actually claimed to be the Trinity. “ I am the Father, the Word, and the Paraclete,” 12 he said, and again, “ I am the Lord God omnipotent who have descended into a man . . . neither an angel, nor an ambassador, but I, the Lord, the Father, am come.” 13 Elipandus of Toledo in the eighth century spoke of Christ as £C a God among gods,” inferring that there were many others who had been divine. One may compare the incarnate gods adored in China and Tibet to-day. A Bohemian woman named Wilhelmina, who died in Milan, 1281, declared herself to be an incarnation of the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, and was actually worshipped by crowds of fanatics, who caused great scandal and disorder. The Khlysti in Russia have not only prophets but “ Christs ” and “ Redeemers,” and they pray to one another. About 1880 there appeared in one of the American states bordering upon Kentucky an impostor who declared himself to be Christ. He threatened the world with immediate judgement, and a number of ill-balanced and hysterical subjects were much affected by his denunciations. One day, when he was addressing a large gathering in his usual strain, a German standing up humbly asked him if he would repeat his warnings in German for the benefit of those present who only knew that tongue. The speaker answered that he had


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH


57


never been able to learn that language, a reply which seemed so ludicrous in one claiming divinity that many of the auditors were convulsed with laughter and so profane a charlatan soon lost all credit. Monsignor Flaget, Bishop of Bardstoun, wrote an account of this extraordinary imposture in a letter dated 4 May, 1833, 14 where he says the scene took place some three years before, About 1880 at Patiala in the Punjaub, a fanatic of filthy appearance named Hakim Singh gave himself out to be Christ, and in a short time had a following of more than four thousand persons, but within a few months they melted away. 15 Many “ false Christs 55 have organized Russian sects. In 1840 a man drained the peasants of Simboisk and Saratov of their money by declaring himself to be the Saviour ; about 1880 the founder of the bojki, an illiterate fanatic named Sava proclaimed that he was the Father, and his kinsman, Samouil, God the Son. Ivan Grigorieff, founder of the “ Russian Mormons, 55 taught that he was divine ; and other frenzied creatures, Philipoff, Loupkin, Israil of Selengisk, have all claimed to be the Messiah and God.

It is apparent then, that although rationally it should be inconceivable that any sentient creature could claim divinity, actually the contrary is the case. The sin of Satan would appear to have been an attempt to usurp the sovereignty of God. This is further borne out by the fact that during the Temptation of our Lord the Devil, showing Him cc omnia regna mundi, et gloriam eorum 55 (all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them), said, “ Hscc omnia tibi dabo, si cadens adoraueris me, 55 (All these will I give Thee, if Thou wilt fall down and worship me.) And he is rebuked : cc Uade Satana : Scriptum est enxm : Dominum Dcum tuum adorabis, et illi soli seruies. 95 (Begone, Satan ; for it is written s The Lord thy God shaft thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve.) It should be remarked that Lucifer was telling a lie* The kingdoms of this world are not his to offer* but only its sins and follies, disappointment and death. But here the Devil is demanding that divine honours should be paid him. And this claim is perpetuated throughout the witch trials. The witches believed that their master, Satan, Lucifer, the fiend, the principle of evil, was God, and as such they worshipped him with latria, they adored him, they


58 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

offered him homage, they addressed prayer to him, they sacrificed. So Lambert Daneau, Dialogue of Witches (trans. 1575), asserts : “ The Diuell comaundeth them that they shall acknowledge him for their god, cal vpo him, pray to him, and trust in him.-—Then doe they all repeate the othe which they haue geuen vnto him ; in acknowledging him to be their God. 53 Cannaert records that the accusation against Elisabeth Vla-mynex of Alost, 1595, was 44 You were not even ashamed to kneel before Belzebuth, whom you worshipped. 5516 De Lancre, in his Tableau de VInconstance des mauvais Anges (1613), informs us that when the witches presented a young child they fell on their knees before the demon and said : 44 Grand Seigneur, lequel i’adore. 53 (Great Lord, whom I worship.) The novice joining the witches made profession in this phrase : 44 I abandon myself wholly to thy power and I put myself in thy hands, acknowledging no other god ; and this since there art my god. 3517 The words of Silvain Nevillon, tried at Orleans in 1614, are even plainer : 44 We say to the Devil that we acknowledge him as our master, our god, our creator. 5318 In America 19 in 1692, Mary Osgood confessed that 64 the devil told her he was her God, and that she should serve and worship him. 35

There are numberless instances of prayer offered to the Devil by his servants. Henri Boguet, in his Discours des Sorciers (Lyons, 1608), relates that Antide Colas, 1598, avowed that 44 Satan bade her pray to him night and morning, before she set about any other business. 3320 Elizabeth Sawyer, the notorious witch of Edmonton (1621), was taught certain invocations by her familiar. In her confession to the Rev. Henry Goodcole, who visited her in Newgate, upon his asking 44 Did the Diuell at any time find you praying when he came unto you, and did not the Diuell forbid you to pray to lesus Christ, but to him alone ? and did he not bid you to pray to him, the Diuell as he taught you ? 53 She replied : 44 He asked of me to whom I prayed, and I answered him to lesus Christ, and he charged me then to pray no more to lesus Christ, but to him the Diuell, and he the Diuell taught me this prayer, Sanctibecetur nomen tuum, Amen,” 21 So as Stearne reports in Confirmation and Discovery of Witch¬ craft (1648), of the Suffolk witches : 44 Ellen , the wife

of Nicholas Greenleife of Barton in Suffolke 9 confessed,


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH 59

that when she prayed she prayed to the Devill and not to God.”

In imitation of God, moreover, the Devil will have his miracles, although these are Oaup-ara, mere delusive wonders which neither profit nor convince. Such was the feat of Jannes and Mambres, the Egyptian sorcerers, who in emulation of Moses changed their rods to serpents. To this source we can confidently refer many tricks of Oriental jugglers. “ I am satisfied,” wrote an English officer of rank and family, “ that the performances of the native ‘ wise- men ’ are done by the aid of familiar spirits. The visible growth of a mango tree out of an empty vessel into which a little earth is placed, a growth which spectators witness, and the secret of which has never been discovered, may not be unreasonably referred to the same occult powers which enabled the Egyptian magicians of old to imitate the miraculous acts which Moses, by God’s command, openly wrought in the face of Pharaoh and his people .” 22 In the basket-trick, which is performed without preparation in any place or spot—a greensward, a paved yard, a mcssroom—a boy is placed under a large wicker basket of conical shape, which may be examined and handled by all, and this is then stabbed through and through by the fakir with a long sword that pierces from side to side. Screams of pain follow each thrust, and the weapon is discerned to be covered with fresh blood. The cries grow fainter and at length cease altogether. Then the juggler uttering cries and incantations dances round the basket, which he suddenly removes, and no sign of the child is to be seen, no rent in the wicker-work, no stain on the steel. But in a few seconds the boy, unharmed and laughing, appears running forward from some distant spot. In this connexion we may well recall the words of Suarez : “ [The Devil] can deceive and trick the senses so that a head may appear to be cut off and blood to flow, when in truth no such thing is taking place .” 23

The wizards of Tartary and Tibet, bokte, upon certain special days will with great ceremony appear in the temples, which are always thronged on these occasions, and whilst their disciples howl and shriek out invocations, they suddenly throw aside their robes and with a sharp knife seem to rip open their stomachs from top to bottom, whilst blood pours


60 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


from the gaping wound. The worshippers, lashed to frenzy, fall prostrate before them and grovel frantically upon the floor. The wizard appears to scatter his blood over them, and after some five minutes he passes his hands rapidly over the wound, which instantly disappears, not leaving even the trace of a scar. The operator is noticed to be over¬ come with intense weariness, but otherwise all is well. Those who have seen this hideous spectacle assure us that it cannot be explained by any hallucination or legerdemain, and the only solution which remains is to attribute it to the glamour cast over the deluded crowd by the power of discarnate evil intelligences . 24

The portentous growth of Spiritism , 25 which within a generation passed beyond the limits of a popular and mountebank movement and challenged the serious attention and expert inquiry of the whole scientific and philosophical world, furnishes us with examples of many extraordinary phenomena, both physical and psychical, and these, in spite of the most meticulous and accurate investigation, are simply inexplicable by any natural and normal means. Such phenomena have been classified by Sir William Crookes, in his Researches in the Phenomena of Spiritualism. They include the movement of heavy bodies without contact, or with contact altogether insufficient to explain the movement; the alteration of weight of bodies ; the rising of tables and chairs off the ground without contact with any human person ; the levitation of human beings ; “ apports, 5 ’ objects such as flowers, coins, pieces of stone conveyed into a hermetically closed room without any visible agency to carry them ; luminous appearances ; more or less distinct phantom faces and forms. In spite of continual and most deliberate trickery, repeated and most humiliating exposure, and this not only in the case of cheap charlatans but also of famous mediums such as William Eglinton, there occur and have always occurred phenomena which are vouched for upon the evidence of names whose authority cannot be gainsaid, Do such manifestations proceed from the spirits of the departed or from intelligences which have never been in human form ? Even avowed believers in a beneficent Spiritism, anxious to establish communication with dead friends, are forced to admit the frequent and irresponsible action of non-human


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH


61


intelligences. This conclusion is based upon lengthy and detailed evidence which it is only possible very briefly to summarize. It proves almost impossible satisfactorily to establish spirit identity, to ascertain whether the com¬ municator is actually the individual he or it purports to be ; the information imparted is not such as would naturally be expected from those who have passed beyond this life but trivial and idle to a degree ; the statements which the spirits make concerning their own condition are most contradictory and confused ; the moral tone which pervades these mes¬ sages, at first vague and unsatisfactory, generally becomes repulsive and even criminally obscene. All these particulars unmistakably point to demoniac intervention and deceit. 26 The Second Plenary Council of Baltimore (1866) whilst making due allowance for fraudulent practice and subtle sleights in Spiritism declares that some at least of the manifestations are to be ascribed to Satanic intervention, for in no other manner can they be explained. (Deereta, 88-41.) A decree of the Holy Office, 86 March, 1898, con¬ demns Spiritistic practices, even though intercourse with evil spirits be excluded and intercourse sought only with good angels.

Not only with miracles but also in prophecies does Lucifer seek to emulate that God Whose Throne he covets. This point is dealt with by Bishop Pierre Binsfcld, who in his De Maleficis (1589) writes : 46 Nunc uidendum cst an daemoncs pneseientiam habeant futurorum ct secretorum, ita ut ex eorum reuelatione possit homo prognostieare 27 et occulta cognoscere ? . . . Prima conclusio : Futura, si in seipsis considercntur, anullo prseterquam a solo Deo cognosei possunt . 55 (Next we will inquire whether devils can have any foreknowledge of future events or of hidden things so that a man might from their revelations to him foretell the future and discover the unknown ? . . . First conclusion : The future, precisely considered, can be known to none save to God alone.) But it must be borne in mind that the intelligence of angels, though fallen, is of the aeutest order, as Simon Maiolo in his Dies caniculares explains : 44 Astutia, sapientia, acumine longe superant homines, ct longius pro- grediuntur ratiocinando . 55 (In shrewdness, knowledge, per¬ spicuity, they far excel mankind, and they can look much


62 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


further into the future by logical deduction.) And it is in this way that a demon will often rightly divine what is going to happen, although more often the response will either be a lie or wrapped up in meaningless and ambiguous phrase, such as were the pagan oracles. A notable example of false prophets may be found in the Camisards (probably from camise , a black blouse worn as a uniform), a sect of evil fanatics who terrorized Dauphind, Vivarais, and chiefly the Cevennes at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Their origin was largely due to the Albigensian spirit, which had never been wholly stamped out in that district, and which was fanned to flame by the anarchical preaching and dis¬ ordered pamphlets of the French Calvinists, such as Jurieu’s Accomplissement des prophSties . Pope Clement XI styles the Camisards “ that execrable race of ancient Albigenses, 35 ' De Serre, a rank old Calvinist of Dieulefit in Dauphln<5, became suddenly inspired and a wave of foul hysteria spread far and wide. In 1702 the saintly abb6 de Chaila was treacherously murdered by these wretches, who seized arms and formed themselves into offensive bands under such ruffians as Sdguier, Laporte, Castanet, Ravenal, and Cavalier. Louis XIV sent troops to subdue them, but the Catholic leaders at first do not seem to have appreciated: the serious¬ ness of the position, and a desultory guerilla warfare dragged on for some years. Cavalier escaped to England, 28 whence he returned in 1709, and attempted to kindle a revolt in Vivarais. On 8 March, 1715, by a proclamation and medals, Louis XIV announced that these demoniacs were entirely extinct.

A number of these prophets fled to England, where they created great disturbances, and Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV , XXXVI, tells us that one of the leading refugees, a notorious rebel, Elie Marion, became so obnoxious on account of his avertissements prophHiques and false miracles, that he was expelled the country as a common nuisance . 29

The existence of evil discarnate intelligences having been orthodoxly established, a realm which owns one chief, and it is reasonable to suppose, many hierarchies, a kingdom that is at continual warfare with all that is good, ever striving to do evil and bring man into bondage ; it is obvious that if he be so determined man will be able in some way or another to get into touch with this dark shadow world, and however


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH 63


rare such a connexion may be it is, at least, possible. It is this connexion with its consequences, conditions, and attendant circumstances, that is known as Witchcraft. The erudite Sprenger in the Malleus Maleficarum expressly declares that in his opinion a denial of the possibility of Witchcraft is heresy. “ After God Himself hath spoken of magicians and sorcerers, what infidel dare doubt that they exist ? 55 writes Pierre de Lancre in his UIncredulite et Mescreance du SortiUge (Paris, 1622) 30 . That eminent lawyer Blackstone, in his Commentaries (1705), IV, 4, asserts : “ To deny the possibility, nay, actual existence of Witchcraft and Sorcery, is at once flatly to contradict the revealed Word of God in various passages both of the Old and New Testa¬ ment ; and the thing itself is a truth to which every Nation in the World hath in its turn borne testimony, either by examples seemingly well attested, or by prohibitory laws, which at least suppose the possibility of commerce with evil spirits.” Even the ultra-cautious—I had almost said sceptical —Father Thurston acknowledges : “In the face of Holy Scripture and the teaching of the Fathers and theologians the abstract possibility of a pact with the Devil and of a diabolical interference in human affairs can hardly be denied.” Imposture, trickery, self-deception, hypnotism, a morbid imagination have, no doubt, all played an important part in legends of this kind. It is not enough quite sincerely to claim magical powers to possess them in reality. Plainly, a man who not only firmly believes in a Power of evil but also that this Power can and does meddle with and mar human affections and human destinies, may invoke and devote himself to this Power, may give up his will thereunto, may ask this Power to accomplish his wishes and ends, and so succeed in persuading himself that he has entered into a mysterious contract with evil whose slave and servant he is become. 31 Moreover, as we should expect, the records teem with instances of common charlatanry, of cunning villainies and crime masquerading under the cloak of super¬ stition, of clever fraud, of what was clearly play acting and mumming to impress the ignorant and vulgar, of diseased vanity, sick for notoriety, that craved the name and reputa¬ tion of witch, of quackery and cozening that proved lucrative and comfortable enough.


64 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

But when every allowance has been made, as we examine in detail the long and bloody history of Witchcraft, as we recognize the fearful fanaticism and atrocious extravagances of the witch mania, as we are enabled to account for in the light of ampler knowledge, both psychological and physical, details and accidents which would have inevitably led to the stake without respite or mercy, as we can elucidate case after ease—one an hysterical subject, a cataleptic, an epileptic, a sufferer from some obscure nervous disorder even to-day not exactly diagnosed ; another, denounced by the malice of private enemies, perhaps on political grounds ; a third, some doting beldame the victim of idlest superstition or mere malignity; a fourth, accused for the sake of gain by a disappointed blackmailer or thief; others, silly bodies, eccentrics, and half-crazed cranks ; and the even greater number of victims who were incriminated by poor wretches raving in the agonies of the rack and boots ;—none the less after having thus frankly discounted every possible cir¬ cumstance, after having completely realized the world-wide frenzy of persecution that swept through those centuries of terror, wc cannot but recognize that there remain innumer¬ able and important cases which are not to be covered by any ordinary explanation, which fall within no normal category. As a most unprejudiced writer has well said : 64 The under¬ lying and provocative phenomena had really been present in a huge number of cases .” 32 And there is no other way of accounting for these save by acknowledging the reality of Witchcraft and diabolic contracts. It must be steadily remembered that the most brilliant minds, the keenest intelligences, the most learned scholars, the noblest names, men who had heard the evidence at first hand, all firmly believed in Witchcraft. Amongst them are such supreme authorities as S. Augustine, u a philosophical and theological genius of the first order, dominating, like a pyramid, antiquity and the succeeding ages ” 33 ; , Blessed Albcrtus Magnus, the ct Universal Doctor ” of encyclopaedic knowledge ; S. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor Angelicus, one of the profoundcst intellects the world has ever seen ; the Seraphic S. Bonaventura, most loving of mystics ; Popes not a few, Alexander IV, the friend of the Franciscans, prudent, kindly, deeply religious, “ assi¬ duous in prayer and strict in abstinence” 34 ; John XXII,


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH


65


46 a man of serious character, of austere and simple habits, broadly cultivated 5535 ; Benedict XII, a pious Cistercian monk, most learned in theology ; Innocent VIII, a magni¬ ficent prelate, scholar and diplomatist; Gregory XV, an expert in canon and civil law, most just and merciful of pontiffs, brilliantly talented. We have the names of learned men, such as Gerson, Chancellor of Notre-Daxne and of the University of Paris, “justly regarded as one of the master intellects of his age ” 36 ; James Sprenger, O.P., who for all his etymological errors was a scholar of vast attainments ; Jean Bodin, “ one of the chief founders of political philosophy and political history 5,36 ; Erasmus; Bishop Jewell, of Salisbury, “ one of the ablest and most authoritative ex¬ pounders of the true genius and teaching of the reformed Church of England 5,37 ; the gallant Raleigh ; Lord Bacon ; Sir Edward Coke ; Cardinal Mazarin ; the illustrious Boyle ; Cudworth, “ perhaps the most profound of all the great scholars who have adorned the English Church ” 3£J ; Selden ; Henry More ; Sir Thomas Browne ; Joseph Glanvill, who “ has been surpassed in genius by few of his successors 5,36 ; Meric Casaubon, the learned Prebendary of Canterbury; Sir Matthew Hale ; Sir George Mackenzie ; William Blackstone ; and many another divine, lawyer, scholar, of lesser note. It is inconceivable that all these, mistaken as they might be in some details, should have been wholly deluded and beguiled. The learned Sinistrari in his De Dcemonialitate , 38 upon the authoritative sentence of Francesco-Maria Guazzo, an Ambrosian, ( Compendium Maleficarum, Liber I. 7), writes : “ Prime, ineunt pactum expressum cum Dsemone aut alio Mago seu Malefieo uicem D&monis gerente, et testibus praesentibus de seruitio diabolico suscipxendo : Daemon uero uice uersa honores, diuitias, et carnales delectationes illis pollicetur.” (Firstly, the Novices have to conclude with the Demon, or some other Wizard or Magician acting in the Demon’s place, an express compact by which, in the presence of witnesses, they enlist in the Demon’s service, he giving them in exchange his pledge for honours, riches, and carnal pleasures.)

It is said that the formal pact was sometimes verbal, sometimes a signed document. In every case it was voluntary, and as Gorres points out, the usual initiation into these foul

F


66 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

mysteries was through some secret society at an asseblym of which the neophyte bound himself with terrific oathsnd a blasphemy to the service of evil. But there are eases which can only be explained by the materialization of a dark intelligence who actually received a bond from the worshipper. These are, of course, extremely rare; but occasionally the judges were able to examine such parchments and deeds. In 1453 Guillaume Edelin, Prior of S. Germain-en-Laye, signed a compact with the Devil, and this was afterwards found upon his person. Pierre de Lancre relates that the witch Stevenote de Audebert, who was burned in January, 1619, showed him “le pacte & conuention qu 5 elle auoit faict auec le Diable, escrite en sang de mcnstrues, & si horrible qu’on auoit horreur de la regarder.” 39 In the library at Upsala is preserved the contract by which Daniel Salthenius, in later life Professor of Hebrew at Koningsberg, sold himself to Satan.

In the archives of the Sacred Office is preserved a picture of the Crucifixion of which the following account is given: A young man of notoriously wicked life and extreme impiety having squandered his fortune, and being in desperate need, resolved to sell himself body and soul to Lucifer on condition that he should be supplied with money enough to enable him to indulge in all the luxuries and lusts he desired. It is said the demon assumed a visible form, and required him to write down an act of self-donation to hell. This the youth consented to do on one proviso. He asked the demon if he had been present on Calvary, and when he was answered in the affirmative he insisted that Lucifer should trace him an exact representation of the Crucifixion, upon which he would hand over the completed document. The fiend after much hesitation consented, and shortly produced a picture. But at the sight of the racked and bleeding Body stretched on the Cross the youth was seized with such contrition that falling upon his knees he invoked the help of God. His companion disappeared, leaving the fatal contract and picture. The penitent, in order to gain absolution for so heinous guilt, was obliged to have recourse to the Cardinal Penitentiary, and the picture was taken in charge by the Holy Office. Prince Barberini afterwards obtained permission to have any exact copy made of it, and this eventually he presented to the Capuchins at S. Maria della Concezione.


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH 67

A contract with Satan was said always to be signed in the blood of the executor. cc The signature is almost invariably subscribed with the writer’s own blood. . . . Thus at Augsburg Joseph Egmund Schultz declared that on the 15 May, 1671, towards midnight, when it was betwixt eleven and twelve of the clock, he threw down, where three cross¬ roads met, an illuminated parchment, written throughout in his own blood and wrapped up in a fair kerchief, and thus he sealed the compact . . . Widmann also tells us how that unhappy wretch Faust slightly cut his thumb and with the drops of blood which trickled thence devoted himself in writing body and soul to the Devil, utterly repudiating God’s part in him.” 40 From the earliest times and in many nations we find human blood used inviolably to ratify the pledged word. 41 Rochholz, I, 52, relates that it is a custom of German University freshmen (Bursehen) for the parties to write “ mutually with their own blood leaves in each other’s albums.” The parchment is still said to be in existence on which with his own blood Maximilian, the great and devout Bavarian elector, religiously dedicated himself to the Most Holy Mother of God. Blood was the most sacred and irrevocable of seals, as may be seen in the custom of blood- brotherhood when friendship was sworn and alliances con¬ cluded. Either the blood itself was drunk or wine mixed with blood. Herodotus (IV, 70) tells us that the Scythians were wont to conclude agreements by pouring wine into an earthen vessel, into which the contracting parties having cut their arms with a knife let their blood flow and mingle. Whereupon both they and the most distinguished of their following drank of it. Pomponius Mela, De Situ Orbis, II, 1, records the same custom as still existing among them in his day : “ Not even their alliances are made without shedding of blood : the partners in the compact wound themselves, and when the blood gushes out they mingle the stream and taste of it when it is mixed. This they consider to be the most assured pledge of eternal loyalty and trust.” 42 Gyraldus, Topographia Hibernorum , XXII, p. 748, says ; cc When the Ireni conclude treaties the one drinks the blood of the other, which is shed voluntarily for this purpose.” In July, 1891, a band of brigands which had existed for three years was discovered and broken up in South Italy. It was reported


68 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


that in the ritual of these outlaws, who were allied to the “ Mala Yita 55 of Bari, “ the neophytes drank blood-brother- hood with the captain of the band by sucking out and drinking the blood from a scratch wound, which he had himself made in the region of his heart. 55

In several grimoires and books of magic, such as The Book of Black Magio and of Pacts , The Key of Solomon the King , Sanctum Regnum , may be found goetic rituals as well as invocations, and if these, fortunately for the operators, are occasionally bootless, it can only be said that Divine Power holds in check the evil intelligences. But, as Suarez justly observes, even if no response be obtained from the demon “ either because God does not allow it, or for some other reason we may not know, 55 43 the guilt of the experimenter in this dark art and his sin are in no wise lightened. 44 To¬ wards the end of the eighteenth century a certain Juan Perez, being reduced to the utmost misery, vowed himself body and soul to Satan if he were revenged upon those whom he suspected of injuring him. He consulted more than one magician and witch, he essayed more than one theurgic ceremonial, but all in vain. Hell was deaf to his appeal. Whereupon he openly proclaimed his disbelief in the super¬ natural, in the reality of devils, and mocked at Holy Scripture as a fairy tale, a nursery fable. Naturally this conduct brought him before the Tribunal of the Holy Office, to whom at his first interrogation he avowed the whole story, declaring himself ready to submit to any penance they might seem fit to inflict.

Any such pact which may be entered into with the demon is not in the slightest degree binding. Such is the authori¬ tative opinion of S. Alphonsus, who lays down that a necro¬ mancer or person who has had intercourse with evil spirits now wishing to give up his sorceries is bound : “ 1. Absolutely to abjure and to renounce any formal contract or any sort of commerce whatsoever he may have entered into with demonic intelligences ; 2. To burn all such books, writings, amulets, talismans, and other instruments as appertain to the black art (i.e. crystals, planchettes, ouija-boards, pagan periapts, and the like); 8. To burn the written contract if it be in his possession, but if it be believed that it is held by the demon, there is no need to demand its restoration since


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH


69


it is wholly annulled by penitence ; 4. To repair any harm he has done and make good any loss.” 45 It may be remarked that these rules have been found exceedingly useful and entirely practical in dealing with mediums and others who forsake spiritism, its abominations and fearful dangers.

There are examples in history, even m hagiography, of sorcerers who have been converted. One of the most famous of these is S. Thcophilus the Penitent ; 46 and even yet more renowned is S. Cyprian of Antioch who, with S. Justina, suffered martyrdom during the persecution of Diocletian at Nicomedia, 26 September, 804. 47 Blessed Gil of Santarem, a Portuguese Dominican, in his youth excelled in philosophy and medicine. Whilst on his way from Coimbra to the University of Paris he fell into company with a courteous stranger who offered to teach him the black art at Toledo. As payment the stranger required that Gil should make over his soul to the Devil and sign the contract with his blood. After complying with the conditions he devoted seven years to magical studies, and then proceeding to Paris easily obtained the degree of doctor of medicine. Gil, however, repented, burned his books of spells, and returned to Portugal, where he took the habit of S. Dominic. After a long life of penitence and prayer he died at Santarem, 14 May, 1205, and here his body is still venerated. 48 His cult was ratified by Benedict XIV, 9 March, 1748. His feast is observed 14 May.

The contract made by the witch was usually for the term of her life, but sometimes it was only for a number of years, at the end of which period the Devil was supposed to kill his votary, Reginald Scot remarks : “ Sometimes their

homage with their oth and bargaine is receiued for a certcine terme of yeares ; sometimes for ever.” 49 Magdalena de la Cruz, a Franciscan nun, born at Aquilar in 1487, entered the convent of Santa Isabel at Cordova in 1504. She acquired an extraordinary reputation for sanctity, and was elected abbess in 1583, 1536, and 1539. Scarcely five years later she was a prisoner of the Inquisition, with charges of Witch¬ craft proven against her. She confessed that in 1499 a spirit who called himself by the grotesque name Balbar, with a companion Pithon, appeared to her at the tender age of twelve, and she made a contract with him for the space of


70 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


forty-one years. In 1543 she was seized with a serious illness, during which she confessed her impostures and demonic commerce. She was confined for the rest of her life as a penitent in a house of the utmost austerity. Joan Williford, a witch of Faversham, acknowledged “ that the Devil promised to be her servant about twenty yeeres, and that the time is now almost expired. 5350 In 1646 Elizabeth Weed, a witch of Great Catworth in Huntingdonshire, confessed that cc the Devill then offer'd her that hee would doe what mis- chiefe she should require him ; and said she must covenant with him that he must have her soule at the end of one and twenty years which she granted. 33 51 In 1664, a Somerset sorceress, Elizabeth Style, avowed that the Devil “ promised her Mony, and that she should live gallantly, and have the pleasure of the World for Twelve years, if she would with her Blood sign his Paper, which was to give her Soul to him. 3352

Satan promises to give his votaries all they desire ; know¬ ledge, wealth, honours, pleasure, vengeance upon their enemies ; and all that he can give is disappointment, poverty, misery, hate, the power to hurt and destroy. He is ever holding before their eyes elusive hopes, and so besotted are they that they trust him and confide in him until all is lost. Sometimes in the case of those who are young the pact is for a short while, but he always renews it. So at Lille in 1661 Antoinette Bourignon’s pupils confessed ; 66 The Devil gives them a Mark, which Marks they renew as often as those Persons have any desire to quit him. The Devil reproves them the more severely, and obligeth them to new Promises, making them also new Marks for assurance or Pledge, that those Persons should continue faithful to him. 33 53

The Devil’s Mark to which allusion is here made, or the Witches 3 Mark, as it is sometimes called, was regarded as perhaps the most important point in the identification of a witch, it was the very sign and seal of Satan upon the actual flesh of his servant, and any person who bore such a mark was considered to have been convicted and proven beyond all manner of doubt of being in league with and devoted to the service of the fiend. This mark was said to be entirely insensible to pain, and when pricked, however deeply, it did not bleed. So Mr. John Bell, minister at Gladsmuir, in


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH 71


his tract The Trial of Witchcraft; or Witchcraft Arraigned and Condemned , published early in the eighteenth century, explains : 44 The witch mark is sometimes like a blew spot, or a little tate, or reid spots, like flea biting ; sometimes also the flesh is sunk in, and hollow, and this is put in secret places, as among the hair of the head, or ey e-brows, within the lips, under the arm-pits, and in the most secret parts of the body. 5 ’ Robert Hink, minister at Aberfoill, in his Secret Commonwealth (1691), writes : 46 A spot that I have seen, as a small mole, horny, and brown-coloured; throw which mark, when a large pin was thrust (both in buttock, nose, and roof! of the mouth), till it bowed and became crooked, the witches both men and women, nather felt a pain nor did bleed, nor knew the precise time when this was doing to them, (their eyes only being covered).” This mark was sometimes the complete figure of a toad or a bat; or, as Delrio says, the slot of a hare, the foot of a frog, a spider, a deformed whelp, a mouse. 54 The same great authority informs us on what part of the body it was usually impressed : 44 In men it may often be seen under the eyelids, under the lips, under the armpits, on the shoulders, on the fundament; in women, moreover, on the breast or on the pudenda. 5 ’ 55

In his profound treatise De Dcemonialitate that most erudite Franciscan Ludovico Maria Sinistrari writes ; 44 [Sagse sen Malefici] sigillantur a Daemonc aliquo charactcre, maxime ii, de quorum constantia dubitat. Character uero non est semper eiusdem formse, aut figurse : aliquando enim cst simile lepori, aliquando pedi bufonis, aliquando aranese, uel catello, uel gliri; imprimatur autem in locis corporis magis occultis : uiris quidem aliquando sub palpebris, aliquando sub axillis, aut labiis, aut humeris, aut sede ima, aut alibi: mulieribus autem plerumque in mammis, seu locis mulie- bribus. Porro sigillum, quo talia signa imprimuntur, est unguis Diaboli.” (The Demon imprints upon [the Witches or Wizards] some mark, especially on those whose constancy he suspects. That mark, moreover, is not always of the same shape or figure : sometimes it is the image of a hare, sometimes a toad’s leg, sometimes a spider, a puppy, a dormouse. It is imprinted on the most hidden parts of the body: with men, under the eye-lids, or the armpits, or the lips, on the shoulder, the fundament, or somewhere else :


72 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


with women it is usually on the breasts or the privy parts. Now, the stamp which imprints these marks is none other but the Devil’s claw.)

This Mark was made by the Devil, or by the Devil’s vicegerent at the Sabbats upon the admission of a new witch. 64 The Diuell giveth to euerie nouice a marke, either with his teeth or his clawes,” says Reginald Scot, Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584. The young witches of Lille in 1661 confessed that 44 the Devil branded them with an iron awl upon some part of the body. 5 ’ 56 In Scotland, Geillis Duncane, maid-servant to the deputy bailiff of Tranent, one David Seaton, a wench who was concerned in the celebrated trial of Doctor Fian, Agnes Sampson, Euphemia McCalyan, Barbara Napier, and their associates, would not confess even under torture, 44 whereuppon they suspecting that she had been marked by the devill (as commonly witches are) made diligent search about her, and found the enemies mark to be in her fore crag, or fore part of her throate ; which being found, shec confessed that all' her doings was done by the wicked allurements and entisements of the devil, and that she did them by witchcraft.” 57 In 1630 Catharine Oswald of Niddrie was found guilty of sorcery, 44 the advocate for the instruction of the assyze producing the declaration of two witnesses, that being in the tolbuith, saw Mr. John Aird, minister, put a pin in the pannell’s shoulder, (where she carries the devill’s mark) up to the heid, and no bluid followed theiron, nor she shrinking thereat; which was againe done in the justice-depute his own presence.” In 1643 Janet Barker at Edinburgh confessed to commerce with the demon, and stated that he had marked her between the shoulders. The mark was found 44 and a pin being thrust therein, it remained for an hour unperceived by the pannell.’ ’ 6 8

On 10 March, 1611, Louis Gaufridi, a priest of Accoules in the diocese of Marseilles, was visited in prison, where he lay under repeated charges of foulest sorcery, by two physicians and two surgeons who were appointed to search for the Devil’s mark. Their joint report ran as follows : 44 We, the undersigned doctors and surgeons, in obedience to the directions given us by Messire Anthoine de Thoron, sieur de Thoron, Councillor to the King in his Court of Parliament, have visited Messire L. Gaufridy, upon whose


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH


78-


body we observed three little marks, not very different in colour from the natural skin. The first is upon his right thigh, about the middle towards the lower part. When we pierced this with a needle to the depth of two fingers breadth he felt no pain, nor did any blood or other humour exude from the incision.

44 The second is in the region of the loins, towards the right, about an inch from the spine and some four fingers breadth above the femoral muscles. Herein we drove the needle for three fingers breath, leaving it fixed in this spot for some time, as we had already done in the first instance, and yet all the while the said Gaufridy felt no pain, nor was there any effluxion of blood or other humour of any kind.

“ The third mark is about the region of the heart. At first the needle was introduced without any sensation being felt, as in the previous instances. But when the place was probed with some force, he said he felt pain, but yet no moisture distilled from this laceration. Early the next morning we again visited him, but we found that the parts which had been probed were neither swollen nor red. In our judgement such callous marks which emit no moisture when pierced, cannot be due to any ancient affection of the skin, and in accordance with this opinion we submit our report on this tenth day of March, 1611.

Fontaine , Grassy, Doctors ;

Merindol , Bontemps , Surgeotis. 5 ’ 59

On 26 April, 1634, during the famous Loudun trials,Urbain Grandier, the accused was examined in order to discover the witch-mark. He was stripped naked, blindfolded, and in the presence of the officials, Ren6 Mannoury, one of the leading physicians of the town, conducted the search. Two marks were discovered, one upon the shoulder-blade and the other upon the thigh, both of which proved insensible even when pierced with a sharp silver pin.

Inasmuch as the discovery of the devil-mark was regarded as one of the most convincing indications—if not, indeed, an infallible proof—that the accused was guilty since he bore indelibly branded upon his flesh Satan’s own sign- manual, it is easy to see how the searching for, the recognition and the probing of, such marks actually grew to be a profession


74 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

in which not a few ingenious persons came to be recognized as experts and practical authorities. In Scotland, especially, the “prickers,” as they were called, formed a regular gild. They received a good fee for every witch they discovered, and, as might be expected, they did not fail to reap a golden harvest. At the trial of Janet Peaston, in 1646, the magis¬ trates of Dalkeith “ caused John Kincaid of Tranent, the common pricker, to exercise his craft upon her. He found two marks of the Devil’s making ; for she could not feel the pin when it was put into either of the said marks, nor did the marks bleed when the pin was taken out again. When she was asked where she thought the pins were put into her, she pointed to a part of her body distant from the real place. They were pins of three inches in length.” 60 Another notorious pricker was John Bain, upon whose unsupported evidence a large number of unfortunate wretches were sentenced to death. About 1634 John Balfour of Corhouse was feared over all the countryside for his exploits ; whilst twenty years later one John Dick proved a rival to Kincaid himself. The regular trade of these “ common prickers ” came to be a serious nuisance, and confessedly opened the door to all sorts of roguery. The following extraordinary incident shows how dangerous and villainous in mountebank hands the examinations could become, which, if conducted at all, ought at least to be safeguarded by every precaution and only entrusted to skilled physicians, who should report the result to grave and learned divines. “ There came then to Inverness one Mr. Paterson, who had run over the kingdom for triall off witches, and was ordinarily called the Pricker, because his way of triall was with a long brass pin. Stripping them naked, he alledged that the spell spot was seen and discovered. After rubbing over the whole body with his palms he slips in the pin, and, it seemes, with shame and fear being dasht, they felt it not, but he left it jin the flesh, deep to the head, and desired them to find and take it out. It is sure some witches were discovered but many honest men and women were blotted and break by this trick. In Elgin there were two killed; in Forres two; and one Margret Duff, a rank witch, burned in Inverness." This Paterson came up to the Church of Wardlaw, and within the church pricked 14 women and one man brought thither by the Chisholm of


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH


75


Commer, and 4 brought by Andrew Fraser, chamerlan of Ferrintosh. He first polled all their heads and amassed the heap of haire together, hid in the stone dich, and so proceeded to pricking. 61 Severall of these dyed in prison never brought to confession. This villan gaind a great deale off mony, haveing two servants ; at last he was discovered to be a woman disguished in mans eloathes. Such cruelty and rigure was sustained by a vile varlet imposture. 9 ’ 62 No doubt in very many, in the majority of instances, these witch-marks were natural malformations of the skin, thickened tissue, birthmarks—I myself have known a subject who was by prenatal accident stamped upon the upper part of the arm with the complete figure of a rat—moles, callous warts, or spots of some kind. But this explanation will not cover all the cases, and even the sceptical Miss Murray who writes : 64 Local anaesthesia is vouched for in much of the evidence, which suggests that there is a substratum of truth in the statements,” is bound candidly to confess, 44 but I can at present offer no solution of this problem.” 63 Moreover, as before noticed, this mark was not infrequently branded upon the novice at admission, often by the Witch-Master, who presided over the rout, sometimes—it must be admitted— by non-human agency.

The C4 little Teat or Pap,” so often found on the body of the wizard or witch, and said to secrete milk which nourished the familiar, must be carefully distinguished from the insensible devil-mark. This phenomenon, for no explainable reason, seems to occur only in the records of England and New England, where, however, it is of exceedingly frequent occurrence. It is worth remarking that in the last act of Shadwell’s play, The Lancashire Witches (1681), the witches are searched by a woman, who reports 44 they have all great Biggs and Teats in many Parts, except Mother Madge , and hers are but small ones.” Shadwell, who in his voluminous notes has citations from nearly fifty authors, on this point writes : 44 The having of Biggs and Teats all modern Witch- mongers in England affirm.” 64 In 1597 at the trial of a beldame, Elizabeth Wright, of Stapenhill, near Burton-on- Trent: 44 The old woman they stript, and found behind her right sholder a thing much like the vdder of an ewe that giueth sucke with two teates, like vnto two great wartes,


76 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

the one behinde vnder her armehole, the other a hand off towardes the top of her shoulder. Being demanded how long she had those teates, she answered she was borne so,” 65 In the case of the Witch of Edmonton, Elizabeth Sawyer, who was in spite of her resistance searched upon the express order of the Bench, it was found by Margaret Weaver, a widow of an honest reputation, and two other grave matrons, who performed this duty that there was upon her body cc a thing like a Teate the bignesse of the little finger, and the length of half a finger, which was branched at the top like a teate, and seemed as though one had suekt it.” 66 John Palmer of St. Albans (1049) confessed that cc upon his com¬ pact with the Divel, hee received a flesh brand, or mark, upon his side, which gave suck to two familiars.” 67 The Kentish witch, Mary Read of Lenham (1052), “ had a visible Teat, under her Tongue, and did show it to many,” 68 At St. Albans about 1660 there was a wizard who 66 had like a Breast on his side.” 69 In the same year at Kidderminster, a widow, her two daughters, and a man were accused ; 4C the man had five teats, the mother three, and the eldest daughter, one.” 70 In 1692 Bridget Bishop, one of the Salem witches, was brought to trial: 44 A Jury of Women found a preter¬ natural Teat upon her Body : But upon a second search, within 3 or 4 hours, there was no such thing to be seen.” 71 There is similar evidence adduced in the accounts of Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, two Suffolk witches, executed in 1664; Elizabeth Horner, a Devon witch (1696); Widow Coman, an Essex witch, who died in her bed (1699); and, indeed, innumerable other examples might be quoted afford¬ ing a whole catena of pertinent illustrations. No doubt many of these are explicable by the cases of polymastia (mammce erraiicm) and polythelia (supernumerary nipples) of which there are continual records in recent medical works. It must be freely admitted that these anatomical divagations are commoner than is generally supposed; frequently they are so slight that they may pass almost unnoticed ; doubtless there is exaggeration in many of the inexactly observed seventeenth-century narratives. However, it has to be said, as before, that when every most generous allowance is made, the facts which remain, and the details are very ample, cannot be covered by physical peculiarities and malformations.


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH


77


There is far more truth in the records of the old theologians and witch finders than many nowadays are disposed to allow.

NOTES TO CHAPTER II.

1 Under Innocent III, 1215

2 Diabolus emm et aln claomones a Deo quidem natura creati sunt boni, sed ipsi per so facti sunt mail.

3 Bossuet says that the writings of Suaiez contain the whole of Scholastic Philosoj)hy.

4 Since it contradicts a definite ( ceita ) theological conclusion or truth clearly consequent upon two premises, of which one is an aiticle of faith (de fide), the other naturally certain.

5 Which explains much oh the trifling and silliness m Spiritism, the idle answers given through the mediums of the influences at work.

6 Josephus, Antiquities, XIX 8 2

7 Suetonius, Caligula, XXII. Hero ample details of Caligula’s worship may be read

8 Epigrammatum, V. 8. I See also IX. 4, et saepius.

8 ... id agons no quis 'Romm dous nisi Heliogabalus coleretur. . . Nec Romanas tan turn ©xtmguore uoluit rehgioncs, sed per orbem ierrm unum studens ut Heliogabalus dous unus ubique coleretur. Hiflrus Lampridms, Antoninus Heliogabalus , 3 ; 6.

10 Even the Christian (Arian) Constantius II suffered himself to be addressed as “ Nostra iEiormtas ”

11 Now commemorated on 14 September, the Feast of the Exaltation of Holy Cross. Shoitly after the Restoration of the Cross to Jerusalem, the wood was cut up (perhaps for greater safety) mto small fragments which were distributed throughout the Christian world.

12 Didymus, De Tnmtate , III xh.

13 Epiphamus, Hmr xlvni 11.

14 Annales de la Propogation de la JToi, YII (1834), p. 84.

15 D. C. J. Ibbetson, Outlines of Punjaub Ethnography , Calcutta. 1883. p. 123.

16 . . . vous n’avez pas ou honto do vous agenouiller devant votre Belzebuth, que vous avez adore. J. B. Cannaert, Olim proces des tS or acres en Belgique, Gand, 1847.

17 I© me remets de tout pomet en ton pouuoir & entre tes mains, ne recognois autre Dieu : si bien que tu es mon Dieu.

18 Ou dit au Diablo nous vous rocognoissons pour nostre maistre, nostre Dieu, nostre Createur.

19 John. Hutchinson, History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 1828, II. p. 31.

20 Satan luy commftda de le pner soir & matin, auant qu’elle s’addonat & fair© autre ceuure.

21 Wonderful Discovene of Elizabeth Sawyer , London, 1621.

22 Rev. F G. Lee, More Glimpses of the World Unseen , 1878, p. 12.

23 Potest [diabolus] eludero sensus et facer© ut appareat caput abcisum, De Religions, 1. 2, c. 16, n. 13, t. 13, p. 578.

24 Hue. Voyage dans la Tartane, le Thibet et la Chine , I, ix, p. 308. The author remarks : Oes ceremonies horribles se ronouvellent assez souvent dans les grandes lamaseries de la Tartarie et du Thibet. Nous ne pensons mxlle- mont qu’on puisse mettre toujours sur le compto de la snperchbrie des faits de c© genre : car d’apres tout co quo nous avons vu et entendu parmi les nations idol&tros, nous sommes porsuadb que le dbmon y joue un grand rble. (TheseIiornblo ceromonies frequently occur in the larger lamaseries of Tartary and Tibet. I am very certain that we cannot always ascribe happenings of this sort to mere juggling or triekory; for, after all that I have seen and heard among heathen people, I am confident that the powers of evil are very largely concerned therein.)


78


THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


25 I use this term rather than the more popular “ Spiritualism ” Spiritism obtains m Italy, France and Germany. “ Spiritualism 55 is correctly a technical name for the doctrine which denies that the contents of the universe ax*e limited to matter and the properties and operations of matter.

2b For fuller, and, indeed, conclusive details see Godfrey Raupert’s Modem Spiritism , London, 1904 ; and Monsignor Benson’s Spiritualism , Dublin Review, October, 1909, and reprinted by the Catholic Truth Society.

27 j Prognosticate is a late word Strictly to prognosticate is to deduce from actual signs, to prophesy is to foretell the future without any such sign or token.

28 The Camisards were agreeably satirized by D’Uifey m his comedy The Modern Prophets ; or, New Wit fo? a Husband , produced at Drury Lane, 5 May, 1709, ( Tatlei , 11), and printed quarto, 1709, (no date). One of the principal characters is “ Mmrogn, A Knavish French Carmzar and Priest,” created by Bowen. This is a portrait of Elie Marion In his preface D’XJxfey speaks of “the abominable Impostures of those craz’d Enthusiasts ” whom he lashes. The play had been composed m 1708, but production was post¬ poned owing to the death of the Prince Consort, 28 October of that year. Swift, Predictions for the Year 1768, has: “ June This month will be distinguished at home, by the utter dispersing of those ridiculous deluded enthusiasts, commonly called the prophets ; occasioned chiefly by soomg the time come, when many of tlieir prophecies should be fulfilled, and then Ending themselves deceived by contrary events.”

29 See also FMchier’s Eecit fidele m Letires choisies, Lyons, 1715 , and Brueys’ Histoire dufanatisme de noire temps, Montpellier, 1713.

30 Apres qu© Dieu a par 15 de sa propre Louche des raagiciens et soreiers, qui est l’meredul© qui on pent justement doutor ?

81 In the fourteenth century bas-reliefs on cathedrals frequently represent men kneeling down before the Devil, worshipping him, and devoting them¬ selves to him as his servants. Martonne, Piete au Moyen Age , p. 137.

32 George Ives, A History of Penal Methods , p 75. His admirable and documented chapter II, “ The Witch Trials,” should be carefully read.

33 Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church.

34 Matthew Paris, Chronica Maiora.

33 J. P. Kirsch.

36 All these quotations are from W. II Lecky, History of Rationalism in Europe, c 1.

37 Rev. Peter Lonmer, d.d.

38 First published by Isidore Liseux, 1875. p. 21 XIII. Ludovico Maria Smistrari, Minorite, was born at Ameno (Novara) 26 February, 1622 He was Oonsultor to the Supreme Tribunal of the Holy Office; Vicar-general of the Archbishop of Avignon, and Theologian Advisory to the Archbishop of Milan. He is described as “ omnium scientiarum uir.” He died 6 March, 1701.

39 UIncreduhtd et Mescreance du Sortilege , Pans, 1622, p. 38.

40 Subscnptio autem socpissime peragitur proprio sanguine. . . . Sic Augustse referebat Joseph Egmund Schultz, se anno 1671. d. 15 Maji sanguine propno tinctum manuscriptum, m membrana, nomine picio, obuolutoque muccinio, in media nocte, cum hora undecima duodecima agebatur, m compitum aecisse, atquo pactum sic corroborasse . . . Sic de infausto illo Fausto Widmannus refert, proprio sanguine ex leuiter uulnerato pollice emisso ilium s© totum diabolo adscripsisse, Deoque repudmm misisse. De Sagis, Christian Stridtheckh, Lipsise, 1691. (XXII).

41 See Gotz, De subscriptionibus sanguine humano firmatis, Lubeck, 1724, Also Scheible, Die Sage vom Paust. Stuttgart, 1847. So far as I am aware this point has been neglected by writers on Witchcraft.

42 USTe foedora quidem meruenta sunt: sauciant se, qui paciscuntur, ©xemtumque sangmnem, ubi permiscuere, degustant. Id putant mansurse fidei pignus certissimum.

43 . , . uel quia Deus non permittit, uel propter alias rationes nobis oecultas. De Superstitions, VIII. i. 13.

44 Tunc autem propria culpa diumationis iam commissa est ab hornine,


THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH 79


etiamsi effecius desideratus non fnerit subseeutus. (For the sin of divination is actually committed by the sinner and that willingly, although he obtain not the desned effect of Ins action ) Idem .

45 Theologia morahs, L m n, 28. Monendi sunt se teneri 1. Pactum

©xpressum, si quod habent cum daemon©, aut commercwm abiurare et dissoluere, 2. Libros suos, schedas, hgaturas, ahaquo mstrumenta aitis

comburere; 3 Comburero chirographuin, si habeat: si luro solus daemon id habeat, non necessano cogendus est ut reddat, quia pactum sufficienter soluitur per poemtentiam ; 4 Damna illata resarcire

46 Bollandists, 4 February.

47 Breuianum Romanum , Pans Autumnalis, 26 September, lectio m. of Matins Upon this history Calderon has founded his great drama El Magico Prodigioso.

48 Bollandists, 14 May. Bremanum mxta S. Ordinis Prccdicatoi um. 14 May. In Nocturno, Lecfcion.es n, nj. Touron Histoire des hommes illustres de Vordre d& Saint Dominique (Paris, 1743.)

49 Discovciie of Witchcraft, Book Ill.

50 Examination of Joane Williford, London, 1643

51 John Davenport, Witches of Huntingdon , London, 1646.

62 Glanvill, Sadducismus Tmumphatus

53 Antoinette Boungnon, La Vie cxteneurc , Amsterdam, 1683.

54 Delrio. Disquisitiones magicce , 1 v. sect 4 t. 2. Non eadem ©st forma sign! ; ahquando est simile lopons uestigio, ahquando bufoms pedi, ahquando aranece, uel catello, uol glin.

55 Idem . In unorum enim corpore scope uisitur sub palpebris, sub labns, sub axillis, in humoris, m sode ima : formnis otiam, in mammis uel muhe- bnbus locis.

5(5 . . . le Diablo lour fait quolquo marquo commo avec une alem© de for on quelque partie du corps.

67 N ewes from Scotland, London (1592 ) Boxburgh Club reprint, 1816.

ss Abbreviate of the Justiciary Record .

59 Nous, modecins et chirurgiens soussignds, suivant le commandement a nous fait par mossire Anthomo do Thoron, sieur de Thoron, conseiller du roy en sa eour do parlemont, avons visit© messire L. Gaufridy au corps duquol avons remarque trois petitos marques peu differontos en eoulour du rest© du cuir. L’une on sa cuisso senestro sur le milieu et en la parti© inferieure, en laquello ayant enforce une aiguille environ deux travers d© doigts n’a senti aucune douleur, m de la place n’ost sorti point de sang m autre humidite.

La second© est en la region des lombos en la partie droite, un poulce pr£s de rapine du dos ot quatro doigts au-dessus los muscles do la fosse, en laquelle nous avons enfoneb raiguille trois travers de doigts, la laissons comm© avions fait 4 la premiere plants© en cette partie quelque ©space de temps, sans tout©- fois que le dit Gaufridy ait senti aucune douleur et quo sang m hurneur quelconque en soit sorti.

La troisieme est vers la region du occur, Laquelle, au commencement qu’on mit 1’aiguille parut comm© les autres sans sentiment; mais 4 mesure que l’on enfon^ait fort avant, il dit sontir quelque douleur ; ne sortant toutefois aucune humidite, et Payant visits le lend ©main au matin, n’avons reconnu aux parties piqu4es ni tumour, ni rougeur. A cause de quoi nous disons tollos marques insensiblos on rondant point d’humiditb 4tant piquees, ne pouvoir arrivor par aucuno maladie du cuir pr^cMante, et tel faisons notre rapport ce 10 mars, 1611. Fontaine, Grassy, m4decms; Mdrindol, Bontemps, chirurgiens.

So great was the importance attached to the discovery of a witch-mark upon the body of the accused that when the above medico-legal report was read m court, Father Sebastian Miehaelis, a learned Dominican, who was acting as consultor in the case, horror-struck, involuntarily exclaimed;

“ Good sooth, were we at Avignon this man would be executed to-morrow ! ” Gaufndi confessed ; “ J’advoue que les dites marques sont faites pour

protestation qu’on sera toujours bon efc fidble serviteur du diable toute la


80


THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


vie.’ 5 (I confess that these marks were made as a sign that I shall be a good and faithful servant to the Devil all my hie long.)

60 Pitcairn, Records of Justiciary In 1663 Kincaid was thrown into jail, where he lay nine weeks for pricking ” without a magistrate’s warrant. He was only released owing to his great age and on condition that he would “ prick ” no more

61 This shaving of the head and body was the usual procedure before the search for the devil-mark We find it recorded m nearly every case. Generally a barber was called m to perforin the operation : e g. the trials of Gaufndi and Grandier, where the details are very ample

62 The Wardlaiv Manuscript , p. 446 Scottish History Society publication, Edinburgh.

63 The Witch-Cult in Western Europe , p. 86,

64 Angelica in Love for Love (1695), II, mocking her superstitious old uncle. Foresight, and the Nurse, cries “ Look to it. Nurse ; I can bring Witness that you have a great unnatural Teat under your Left Arm, and he another , and that you Suckle a young Devil m the shape of a Tabby-Cat by turns, I can.”

65 The most wonderfull . . . stone of a . . Witch named Alse Qoodendge London 1597.

60 Goodcolo’s Wonderfull Discovene of Elizabeth Sawyer , London, 1621. There is an allusion in Ford and Dekker’s drama, IY .

Sawyer . My dear Tom-boy , welcome . . .

Comfort me . thou shalt haue the teat anon.

Log Bow, wow 1 I’ll haue it now.

67 W B Gensh The DcviVs Delusions, Bishops Stortford, 1914.

6 8 Prodigious and Tragicall Histones , London, 1652.

69 VV B. Gensh, Relation of Mai y Hall of Gadsden , 1912

70 T. B. Howell, State Trials , London, 1816.

71 Cotton Mather, Wonders of the Invisible World .


CHAPTER III


Demons and Familiars

One of the most authoritative of the older writers upon Witchcraft, Francesco-Maria Guazzo, a member of the Congregation of S. Ambrose ad Nemus, 1 in his encyclopaedic Compendium Maleficarum, first published at Milan, 1608, has drawn up under eleven heads those articles in which a solemn and complete profession of Witchcraft was then held to consist:

First: The candidates have to conclude with the Devil, or some other Wizard or Magician acting in the Devil’s stead, an express compact by which, in the presence of witnesses they devote themselves to the service of evil, he giving them in exchange his pledge for riches, luxury, and such things as they desire.

Secondly : They abjure the Catholic Faith, explicitly with¬ draw from their obedience to God, renounce Christ and in a particular manner the Patronage and Protection of Our Lady, curse all Saints, and forswear the Sacraments. In Guernsey, in 1617, Isabel Recquct went to Rocquaine Castle, “the usual place where the Devil kept his Sabbath: no sooner had she arrived there than the Devil came to her in the form of a dog, with two great horns sticking up : and with one of his paws (which seemed to her like hands) took her by the hand: and calling her by her name told her that she was welcome: then immediately the Devil made her kneel down : while he himself stood up on his hind legs; he then made her express detestation of the Eternal in these words: I renounce God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; and then caused her to worship and invoke himself.” 2 De Lancre tells us that Jeannette d’Abadie, a lass of sixteen, confessed that she was made to “renounce & deny her Creator, the Holy Virgin, the Saints, Baptism, father, mother, relations, Heaven, earthy & all that the world contains.” 3

G 81


82 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

In a very full confession made by Louis Gaufridi on the second of April, 1611, to two Capuchins, Father Ange and Father Antoine, he revealed the formula of his abjuration of the Catholic faith. It ran thus : “ I, Louis Gaufridi, renounce all good, both spiritual as well as temporal, which may be bestowed upon me by God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, all the Saints of Heaven, particularly my Patron S. John- Baptist, as also S. Peter, S. Paul, and S. Francis, and I give myself body and soul to Lucifer, before whom I stand, together with every good that I may ever possess (save always the benefit of the sacraments touching those who receive them). And according to the tenour of these terms have I signed and sealed. 554 Madeleine de la Palud, one of his victims, used a longer and more detailed declaration in wdiieh the following hideous blasphemies occurred: “With all my heart and most unfeignedly and with all my will most deliberately do I wholly renounce God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the most Holy Mother of God ; all the Angels and especially my Guardian Angel, the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, His Precious Blood and the merits thereof, my lot in Paradise, all the good inspirations which God may give me in the future, all prayers which are made or may be made for me. 555

Thirdly; They cast away with contempt the most Holy Rosary, delivered by Our Lady to S. Dominic ; 6 the Cord of S. Francis ; the cincture of S. Augustine ; the Carmelite scapular bestowed upon S. Simon Stock ; they cast upon the ground and trample under their feet in the mire the Cross, Ploly Medals, Agnus Dei , 7 should they possess such or carry them upon their persons. S. Francis girded himself with a rough rope in memory of the bonds wherewith Christ was bound during His Passion, and a white girdle with three knots has since formed part of the Franciscan habit. Sixtus IV, by his Bull Exsupernce dispositions, erected the Archconfraternity of the Cord of S. Francis in the basilica of the Sacro Convento at Assisi, enriching it with many Indulgences, favours which have been confirmed by pontiff after pontiff. Archconfraternities are erected not only in Franciscan but in many other churches and aggregated to the centre at Assisi. The Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Consolation, or of the Black Leathern Belt of S. Monica,







DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 83

S. Augustine and S. Nicolas of Tolcntino, took its rise from a vision of S. Monica, who received a black leathern belt from Our Lady. S. Augustine, S. Ambrose, and S. Simplici- anus all wore such a girdle, which forms a distinctive feature of the dress of Augustinian Eremites. After the canonization of S. Nicolas of Tolentino it came into general use as an article of devotion, and Eugenius IV in 1439 erected the above Archconfraternity. A Bull of Gregory XIII Ad ea (15 July, 1575) confirmed this and added various privileges and Indulgences. The Archconfraternity is erected in Augustinian sanctuaries, from the General of which Order leave must be obtained for its extension to other churches.

Fourthly ; All witches vow obedience and subjection into the hands of the Devil; they pay him homage and vassalage (often by obscene ceremonies), and lay their hands upon a large black book which is presented to them. They bind themselves by blasphemous oaths never to return to the true faith, to observe no divine precept, to do no good work, but to obey the Demon only and to attend without fail the nightly conventicles. They pledge themselves to frequent the midnight assemblies . 8 These conventicles or covens 9 (from conuentus) were bands or companies of witches, composed of men and women, apparently under the discipline of an officer, all of whom for convenieneetsake belonged to the same district. Those who belonged to a eoven were, it seems from the evidence at trials, bound to attend the weekly Esbat. The arrest of one member of a eoven generally led to the implication of the rest. Cotton Mather remarks, “ The witches arc organized like Congregational Churches . 53

Fifthly: The witches promise to strive with all their power and to use every inducement and endeavour to draw- other men and women to their detestable practices and the worship of Satan.

The witches were imbued with the missionary spirit, which made them doubly damnable in the eyes of the divines and doubly guilty in the eyes of the law. So in the ease of Janet Breadheid of Auldearne, we find that her husband

enticed her into that craft . 5 " 10 A girl named Bellot, of Madame Bourignon’s academy, confessed that her mother had taken her to the Sabbat when she was quite a child. Another girl alleged that all worshippers of the Devil cc are


84 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

constrained to offer him their Children. 55 Elizabeth Francis of Chelmsford, a witch tried in 1566., was only about twelve years old when her grandmother first taught her the art of sorcery. 11 The famous Pendie beldame, Elizabeth Dem- dike 46 brought vp her owne Children, instructed her Graund- children, and tooke great care and paines to bring them to be Witches. 5512 At Salem, George Burroughs, a minister, was accused by a large number of women as 44 the person who had Seduc’d and Compell’d them into the snares of Witch¬ craft. 55

Sixthly: The Devil administers to witches a kind of sacrilegious baptism, and after abjuring their Godfathers and Godmothers of Christian Baptism and Confirmation they have assigned to them new sponsors—as it were—whose charge it is to instruct them in sorcery : they drop their former name and exchange it for another, generally a scurrilous and grotesque nickname.

In 1609 Jeanette d’Abadie, a witch of the Basses-Pyrendes, confessed cc that she often saw children baptized at the Sabbat, and these she informed us were the offspring of sorcerers and not of other persons, but of witches who are accustomed to have their sons and daughters baptized at the Sabbat rather than at the Font. 5513 June 20, 1614, at Orleans, Silvain Nevillon amongst other crimes acknowledged that he had frequented assemblies of watches, and ct that they baptize babies at the Sabbat with Chrism. . . . Then they anoint the child’s head therewith muttering certain Latin phrases. 5 ’ 14 Gentien 1c Clerc, who was tried at the same time, 4C said that his mother, as he had been told, presented him at the Sabbat when he was but three years old, to a monstrous goat, whom they called F Aspic, Pie said that he was baptized at the Sabbat, at Carrier d’Olivet, with fourteen or fifteen other children. . . .” 15

Among the confessions made by Louis Gaufridi at Aix in March, 1611, were : “ I confess that baptism is administered at the Sabbat, and that every sorcerer, devoting himself to the Devil, binds himself by a particular vow that he will have all his children baptized at the Sabbat, if this may by any possible means be effected. Every child who is thus baptized at the Sabbat receives a name, wholly differing from Ms own name. I confess that at this baptism water,


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 85

sulphur, and salt are employed : the sulphur renders the recipient the Devil’s slave whilst salt confirms his baptism in the Devil’s service. I confess that the form and intention are to baptize in the name of Lucifer, Belzebuth and other demons making the sign of the cross beginning backwards and then tracing from the feet and ending at the head.” 16

A number of Swedish witches (1069) were baptized : “ they added, that he caused them to be baptized too by such Priests as he had there, and made them confirm their Baptism with dreadful Oaths and Imprecations.” 17

The giving of a new name seems to have been very general. Thus in May, 1569, at S. Andrews cc a notabill sorceres eallit Nicniven was condemnit to the death and burnt,” Her Christian name is not given merely her witch’s name bestowed by the demon. In the famous Fian ease it was staled that when at the meeting in North Berwick kirk Robert Grierson was named great confusion ensued for the witches and war- locks “ all ran hirdie-girdie, and were angry, for it was promised that he should be called Robert the Comptroller, for the expriming of his name.” 18 Euphemia McCalyan of the same coven was called Cane, and Barbara Napier Naip, Isabel Goudic of Auldearne (X6G2) stated that many witches known to her had been baptized in their own blood by such names as cc Able-and-Stout,” “ Over-the-dikowlUnit,” “ Raise-the-wind, 5 ’ u Pickle-nearest-the-wind,” “ Batter- them-down-Maggy,” “ Blow-Kate,” and similar japeries.

Seventhly; The witches cut off a piece of their own garments, and as a token of homage tender it to the Devil, who takes it away and keeps it.

Eighthly: The Devil draws on the ground a circle wherein stand the Novices, Wizards, and Witches, and there they confirm by oath all their aforesaid promises. This has a mystical signification. They take this oath to the Demon standing in a circle described upon the ground, perchance because a circle is the Symbol of Divinity, & the earth God’s footstool and thus he assuredly wishes them to believe that he is the lord of Heaven and earth.” 19

Ninthly: The sorcerers request the Devil to strike them out of the book of Christ, and to inscribe them in his own. Then is solemnly brought forward a large black book, the same as that on which they laid their hands when they did


86 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

their first homage, and they are inscribed in this by the Devil’s claw.

These books or rolls were kept with great secrecy by the chief officer of the coven or even the Grand Master of a district. They would have been guarded as something as precious as life itself, seeing that they contained the dam¬ ning evidence of a full list of the witches of a province or county, and in addition thereto seems to have been added a number of magic formulae, spells, charms, and probably, from time to time, a record of the doings of the various witches. The signing of such a book is continually referred to in the New England trials. So when Deliverance Hobbs had made a clean breast of her sorceries, “ She now testifyd, that this Bishop [Bridget Bishop, condemned and executed as a long-continued witch] tempted her to sign the Book again, and to deny what she had confess’d. 55 The enemies of the notorious Matthew Hopkins made great capital out of the story that by some sleight of sorcery he had got hold of one of these Devil’s memorandum-books, whence he copied a list of witches, and this it was that enabled him to be so infallible in his scent. The Witch-Finder General was hard put to it to defend himself from the accusation, and becomes quite pitiful in his whining asseverations of innocence. There is a somewhat vague story, no dates being given, that a Devil’s book was carried off by Mr. Williamson of Cardrona (Peebles), who filched it from the witches whilst they were dancing on Minehmoor. But the whole coven at once gave chase, and he was glad to abandon it and escape alive.

Sometimes the catalogue of witches was inscribed on a separate parchment, and the book only used to write down charms and spells. Such a volume was the Red Book of Appin known to have actually been in existence a hundred years ago. Tradition said it was stolen from the Devil by a trick. It was in manuscript, and contained a large number of magic runes and incantations for the cure of cattle diseases, the increase of flocks, the fertility of fields. This document, which must be of immense importance and interest, when last heard of was (I believe) in the possession of the now- extinct Stewarts of Invernahyle. This strange volume, so the story ran, conferred dark powers on the owner, who khew what inquiry would be made ere the question was poised ;


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 87

and the tome was so confected with occult arts that he who read it must wear a circlet of iron around his brow as he turned those mystic pages.

Another volume, of which mention is made—one that is often confused 20 with, but should be distinguished from, these two—is what we may term the Devil’s Missal. Probably this had its origin far back in the midst of the centuries among the earliest heretics who passed down their evil traditions to their followers, the Albigenses and the Waldenses or Vaudois. This is referred to by the erudite De Lanerc, who in his detailed account of the Black Mass as performed in the region of the Basses-Pyrenees (1600) writes : cc Some kind of altar was erected upon the pillars of infernal design, and hereon, without reciting the Confiteor or Alleluya, turning over the leaves of a certain book which he held, he began to mumble certain phrases of Holy Mass.” 21 Silvain Nevillon (Orleans, 1614) confessed that “ the Sabbat was held in a house. . . . He saw there a tall dark man opposite to the one who was in a corner of the ingle, and this man was perusing a book, whose leaves seemed black & crimson, & he kept muttering between his teeth although what he said could not be heard, and presently he elevated a black host and then a chalice of some cracked pewter, all foul and filthy.” 22 Genlien le Here, who was also accused, acknowledged that at these infernal assemblies “ Mass was said, and the Devil was celebrant, lie was vested in a chasuble upon which was a broken cross* lie turned his back to the altar when he was about to elevate the Host and the Chalice, which were both black. He read in a mumbling tone from a book, the cover of which was soft and hairy like a wolfs skin. Some leaves were white and ml, others black.” 23 Madeleine Bavent, who was the chief figure in the trials at Louviers (1647), acknowledged: “ Mass was read from the book of blasphemies, which contained the canon. This same volume was used in processions. It was full of the most hideous curses against the Holy Trinity, the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, the other Sacraments and ceremonies of the Church. It was written in a language completely unknown to me.” 24 Possibly this blasphemous volume is the same as that which Satanists to-day use when performing their abominable rites.

Tenthly; The witches promise the Devil sacrifices and


88 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

offerings at stated times ; once a fortnight, or at least once a month, the murder of some child, or some mortal poisoning, and every week to plague mankind with evils and mischiefs, hailstorms, tempest, fires, cattle-plagues and the like.

The Liber Pcenitentialis of S. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury 668-690, the earliest ecclesiastical law of Eng¬ land, has clauses condemning those who invoke fiends, and so cause the weather to change 64 si quis emissor tempcstatis fuerit. 35 In the Capitaluria of Charlemagne (died at Aachen, 28 January, 814), the punishment of death is declared against those who by evoking the demon, trouble the atmosphere, excite tempests, destroy the fruits of the earth, dry up the milk of cows, and torment their fellow-creatures with diseases or any other misfortune. All persons found guilty of employ¬ ing such arts were to be executed immediately upon con¬ viction. Innocent VIII in his celebrated Bull, Summis de- siderantes affectibus , 5 December, 1484, charges sorcerers in detail with precisely the same foul practices. The most celebrated occasion when witches raised a storm was that which played so important a part in the trial of Dr. Fian and his coven, 1590-1, when the witches, in order to drown King James and Queen Anne on their voyage from Denmark, “ tooke a Cat and christened it, 55 and after they had bound a dismembered corpse to the animal cc in the night following the said Cat was convayed into the middest of the sea by all these witches, sayling in their riddles or cives, . . . this doone, then did arise such a tempest in the sea, as a greater hath not bene scene. 5 ’ 25 The bewitching of cattle is alleged from the earliest time, and at Dornoch in Sutherland as late as 1722, an old hag was burned for having cast spells upon the pigs and sheep of her neighbours, the sentence being pronounced by the shcriff-depute. Captain David Ross of Little Dean. This was the last execution of a witch in Scotland.

With regard to the sacrifice of children there is a catena of ample evidence. Reginald Scot 26 writes in 1584 : 44 This must be an infallible rule, that eueric fortnight, or at the least euerie month, each witch must kill one child at the least for hir part. 55 When it was dangerous or impossible openly to murder an infant the life would be taken by poison, and in 1645 Mary Johnson, a witch of Wyvenhoe, Essex, was


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 89

tried for poisoning two children, no doubt as an act of sorcery. 27 It is unknown how many children Giiles de Rais devoted to death in his impious orgies. More than two hundred corpses were found in the latrines of Tiffauges, Machecoul, Champtoce. It was in 166G that Louis XIV was first informed of the abominations which were vermi- culating his capital cc des sacrileges, des profanations, des messes impies, des sacrifices de jcnnes enfants.” Night after night in the rue Beauregard at the house of the mysterious Catherine la Voisin the abbe Guibourg was wont to kill young children for his hideous ritual, either by strangulation or more often by piercing their throats with a sharp dagger and letting the hot blood stream into the chalice as he cried : 66 Astaroth, Asmodee, je vous conjure d’accepter le sacrifice que je vous presente ! 55 (Astaroth ! Asmodcus ! Receive, I beseech you, this sacrifice I oiler unto you !) A priest named Tournet also said Satanic Masses at which children were immolated ; in fact the practice was so common that la Chaufrein, a mistress of Guibourg, would supply a child for a crown 28 piece.

Eleventhly: The Demon imprints upon the Witches some mark. . . . When this has all been performed in accordance with the instructions of those Masters who have initiated the Novice, the latter bind themselves by fearful oaths never to worship the Blessed Sacrament; to heap curses on all Saints and especially to abjure our Lady Immaculate; to trample under foot and spit upon all holy images, the Cross and Relics of Saints ; never to use the Sacraments or Sacra- mentals unless with some magical end in view ; never to make a good confession to the priest, but always to keep hidden their commerce with hell. In return the Demon promises that he will at all times afford them prompt assist¬ ance ; that he will accomplish all their desires in this world and make them eternally happy after their death. This solemn profession having been publicly made each novice has assigned to him a several demon who is called MagisleUus (a familiar). This familiar can assume cither a inale or a female shape ; sometimes he appears as a full-grown man, sometimes as a satyr; and if it is a woman who has been received as a witch he generally assumes the form of a rank buck-goat.


90


THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


It is obvious that there is no question here of animal familiars, but rather of evil intelligences who were, it is be¬ lieved, able to assume a body of flesh. The whole question is, perhaps, one of the most dark and difficult connected with Witchcraft and magic, and the details of these hideous con¬ nexions are such—for as the Saints attain to the purity of angels, so, on the other hand, will the bond slaves of Satan defile them¬ selves with every kind of lewdness—that many writers have with an undue diffidence and modesty dismissed the subject far too summarily for the satisfaction of the serious inquirer. In the first place, we may freely allow that many of these lubricities are to be ascribed to hysteria and hallucinations, to nightmare and the imaginings of disease, but when all deductions have been made—when we admit that in many cases the incubus or succubus can but have been a human being, some agent of the Grand Master of the district,—none the less enough remains from the records of the trials to convince an unprejudiced mind that there was a considerable substratum of fact in the confessions of the accused. As Canon Ribet has said in his encyclopaedic La Mystique Divine , a work warmly approved by the great intellect of Leo XIII; 64 After what we have learned from records and personal confessions wc can scarcely entertain any more doubts, and it is our plain duty to oppose, even if it be but by a simple affirmation on our part, those numerous writers who, cither through presumption or rashness, treat these horrors as idle talk or mere hallucination.’ 529 Bizouard also in his authori¬ tative Rapports de Vhomme avec le dSmon writes of the incubus and succubus : 44 These relations, far from being untrue, bear the strongest marks of authenticity which can be given them by official pro 9 eedings regulated and approved with all the caution and judgement brought to bear upon them by enlightened and conscientious magistrates who, throughout all ages, have been in a position to test plain facts. 5 ’ 30

It seems to me that if unshaken evidence mc&ns anything at all, if the authority of the ablest and acutcst intellects of all ages in all countries is not to count for merest vapourings and fairy fantasies, the possibility—I do not, thank God, say the frequency—of these demoniacal connexions is not to be denied. Of course the mind already resolved that such things cannot be is inconvincible even by demonstration, and


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 91

one can only fall back upon the sentence of S. Augustine : “ Hanc assidue immunditiam et tentare et efficere, plures talesque asseuerant, ut hoc negare impudently uideatur.” 31 In which place the holy doctor explicitly declares : 6 4 Seeing it is so general a report, and so many aver it either from their own experience or from others, that are of indubitable honesty and credit, that the sylvans and fawns, commonly called incubi, have often injured women, desiring and acting carnally with them : and that certain devils whom the Gauls call Duses , do continually practise this uncleanness, and tempt others to it, which is affirmed by such persons, and with such confidence that it were impudence to deny it.”

The learned William of Paris, confessor of Philip le Bel, lays down : “ That there exist such beings as are commonly called incubi or succubi and that they indulge their burning lusts, and that children, as it is freely acknowledged, can be born from them, is attested by the unimpeachable and unshaken witness of many men and women who have been filled with foul imaginings by them, and endured their lecherous assaults and lewdness.” 32

S. Thomas 33 and S. B ona ventura, 3 d also, speak quite plainly on the subject.

Francisco Suarez, the famous Jesuit theologian, writes with caution but with directness : 6t This is the teaching on this point of S. Thomas, who is generally followed by all other theologians. . . . The reason for their opinion is this : Such an action considered in its entirety by no means exceeds the natural powers of the demon, whilst the exercise of such powers is wholly in accordance with the malice of the demon, and it may well be permitted by God, owing to the sins of some men. Therefore this teaching cannot be denied without many reservations and exceptions. Wherefore S. Augustine has truly said, that inasmuch as this doctrine of incubi and succubi is established by the opinion of many who are experienced and learned, it were sheer impudence to deny it.” 35 The Salmanticcnses—that is to say, the authors of the courses of Scholastic philosophy and theology, and of Moral theology, published by the lecturers of the theological college of the Disealccd Carmelites at Salamanca—in their weighty Theologia Moralis 35 state: Some deny this, believing it impossible that demons should perform the carnal


92 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

act with human beings,” but they affirm, “ None the less the opposite opinion is most certain and must be followed.” 37 Charles Rene Billuart, the celebrated Dominican, in his Trac - talus de Angelis expressly declares : ct The same evil spirit may serve as a succubus to a man, and as an incubus to a woman.” 38 One of the most learned'—if not the most learned —of the popes, Benedict XIV, in his erudite work De Seruormn Dei Beatifications , treats this whole question at considerable length with amplest detail and solid references, Liber IV, Pars i. c. 8. 39 Commenting upon the passage cc The sons of God went unto the daughters of men ” (Genesis vi. 4), the pontiff writes : “ This passage has reference to those

Demons who are known as incubi and succubi. ... It is true that whilst nearly all authors admit the fact, some writers deny that there can be offspring. . . . On the other hand, several writers assert that connexion of this kind is possible and that children may be born from it, nay, indeed, they tell us that this has taken place, although it were done in some new and mysterious way which is ordinarily unknown to man.” 40

S. Alphonsus Liguori in his Praxis confessariorum , VII, n.lll, writes : “ Some deny that there are evil spirits, incubi and succubi; but writers of authority for the most part assert that such is the case.” 41

In his Theologia Moralis he speaks quite precisely when defining the technical nature of the sin witches commit in com- merce with incubi. 42 43 This opinion is also that of Martino Bonacina, 44 and of Vincenzo Fxlliueci, S.J. 45 “Buscmbaum has excellently observed that carnal sins with an evil spirit fall under the head of the technical term hcstialiiasP 46 This is also the conclusion of Thomas Tamburini, S.J. (1591-1675) ; Benjamin Elbe], O.F.M. (1690-1756) ; 47 Cardinal Cajeian, O.P. (1469-1584) “ the lamp of the Church ” ; Juan Azor, S.J. (1585-1608) ; 4C in wisdom, in depth of learning and in gravity of judgement taking deservedly high rank among theologians ” (Gury); and many other authorities. 48 What a penitent should say in confession is considered by Monsignor Craisson, sometime Rector of the Grand Seminary of Valence and Vicar-General of the diocese, in his Tractate De Rebus Uenereis ad usum Confessariorum A 9 Jean-Baptiste Bouvier (1788-1854) the famous bishop of Lc Mans, in his Dissertatio


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS


98


in Sexium Decalogi Prceceptum 50 (p, 78) writes : 64 Ail theo¬ logians speak of . . . evil spirits who appear in the shape of a man, a woman, or even some animal. This Is either a real and actual presence, or the effect of imagination. They decide that this sin . . . Incurs particular guilt "which must be specifically confessed, to wit an evil superstition whereof the essence is a compact with the Devil. In this sin, therefore, we have two distinct kinds of malice, one an offence against chastity ; the other against our holy faith.” 51 Dom Dominic Schram, 52 O.S.B., In Ms Institutiones Theologies Mysticcc poses the following : “ The inquiry is made whether a demon . . * may thus attack a man or w r oman, whose obsession w r ould be suffered If the subject were wholly bent upon obtaining perfection and walking the highest paths of contemplation. Here we must distinguish the true and the false. It is certain that—whatever doubters may say—there exist such demons, incubi and smccubi: and S. Augustine asserts (The City of God , Book XV, chapter 23) that it is most rash to advance the contrary. . . . S. Thomas, and most other theologians maintain this too. Wherefore the men or women who suffer these impudicities are sinners who either invite demons . # , or who freely consent to demons when the evil spirits tempt them to commit such abominations. That these and other abandoned wretches may be violently assaulted by the demon we cannot doubt . . . and I myself have known several persons who although they were greatly troubled on account of their crimes, and utterly loathed this foul intercourse with the demon, were nevertheless compelled sorely against their will to endure these assaults of Satan. 5553

It will be seen that great Saints and scholars and all moral theologians of importance affirm the possibility of commerce with incarnate evil intelligences. The demonologists also range themselves in a solid phalanx of assent. Hermann Thyraus, S.J., 54 In his De Sjnrituum apparitions says : 46 It is so rash and inept to deny these (things) that so to adopt this attitude you must needs reject and spurn the most weighty and considered judgements of most holy and authoritative writers, nay, you must wage war upon man’s sense and consciousness, whilst at the same time you expose your ignorance of the power of the Devil and the empery evil spirits may obtain over man.” 55 Delrio, in his Di$-


94 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

quisitiones Magicce, is even more emphatic : 44 So many sound authors and divines have upheld this belief that to differ from them is mere obstinacy and foolhardiness ; for the Fathers, theologians, and all the wisest writers on philosophy agree upon this matter, the truth of which is furthermore proved by the experience of all ages and peoples. 3556 The erudite Sprenger in the Malleus Malejicarum has much the same. 57 John Nider, O.P. (1380—1438) in his Fornncanus, which may be described as a treatise on the theological, philosophical, and social problems of his day, with no small acumen remarks: 44 The reason why evil spirits appear as incubi and stxccubi would seem to be that . . . they inflict a double hurt on man, both in his soul and body, and it is a supreme joy to devils thus to injure humankind. 55 5 * Paul Crilland in his Be Sortilegio (Lyons, 1533) writes : 44 A demon assumes the form of the suceubus. . . . This is the explicit, teaching of the theologians. 55 59

64 It has often been known by most certain and actual experience that women in spite of their resistance have been overpowered by demons. 55 Such are the words of the famous Alfonso de Castro, O.F.M., 60 whose authoritative pronounce¬ ments upon Scripture carried such weight at the Council of Trent, and who was Archbishop-elect of Compostella when he died. Pierre Binsfeld, De confessione maleficarum , sums up : 44 This is a most solemn and undoubted fact not only proved by actual experience, but also by the opinion of all the ages, whatever some few doctors and legal writers may suppose. 55 61

Caspar Sehott, S.J. (1608-66), physicist, doe!or, and divine, 44 one of the most learned men of his day, his simple HIV and deep piety making him an object of veneration to the Protestants as well as to the Catholics of Augsburg, 55 where his declining years were spent, lays down: 44 Ho many

writers of such high authority maintain this opinion, that, it were impossible to reject it. 5562 Bodm, de Lanere, Boguet, Gorres, Bizouard, 63 Gougcnot des Mousseatix, 64 insist upon the same sad facts. And above all sounds the solemn thunder of the Bull of Innocent VIII announcing in no ambiguous phrase : 44 It has indeed come to our knowledge and deeply grieved arc we to hear it, that many persons of both sexes, utterly forgetful of their souls 5 salvation and


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 95

straying far from the Catholic Faith, have (had commerce) with evil spirits, both incubi and succubi.” 65

I have quoted many and great names, men of science, men of learning, men of authority, men to whom the world yet looks up with admiration, nay, with reverence and love, inasmuch as to-day it is difficult, wellnigh inconceivable in most cases, for the modern mind to credit the possibility of these dark deeds of devilry, these foul lusts of incubi and succubi. 66 They seem to be some sick and loathly fantasy of dim mediaeval days shrieked out on the rack by a poor wretch crazed with agony and fear, and written down in long-forgotten tomes by fanatics credulous to childishness and more ignorant than savages. “Even if such horrors ever could have taken place in the dark ages, 5 ’—those vague Dark Ages!—men say, “they would never be permitted now.” And he who knows, the priest sitting in the grated confessional, in whose ears are poured for shriving the filth and folly of the world, sighs to himself, “ Would God that in truth it were so ! 55 But the sceptics arc happier in their singleness and their simplicity, happy that they do not, will not, realize the monstrous things that lie only just beneath the surface of our cracking civilization.

It may not impertinently be inquired how demons or evil intelligences, since they arc pure spiritual beings, can not only assume human flesh but perform the peculiarly carnal act of coition. Sinistrari, following the opinion of Guazzo, says that either the evil intelligence is able to animate the corpse of some human being, male or female, as the case may be, or that, from the mixture of other materials he shapes for himself a body endowed with motion, by means of which he is united to the human being: “ex mixtionc aliarum materiarum effingit sib! corpus, quod mouet, et mediantc quo homini unitur.” 67 In the first instance, advantage might be taken, no doubt, of a person in a mediumistic trance or hypnotic sleep. But the second explanation seems by far the more probable. Can wc not look to the phenomena observed in connexion with ectoplasm as an adequate explanation of this ? It must fairly be admitted that this explanation is certainly borne out by the phenomena of the materializing stance where physical forms which may be touched and handled are built up and disintegrated again


96 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

in a few moments of time. Miss Scatcherd, in a symposium. Survival, 68 gives certain of her own experiences that go far to prove the partial re-materialization of the dead by the utilization of the material substance and ectoplasmic emana¬ tions of the living. And if disembodied spirits can upon occasion, however rare, thus materialize, why not evil intelligences whose efforts at corporeality are urged and aided by the longing thoughts and concentrated will power of those who eagerly seek them ?

This explanation is further rendered the more probable by the recorded fact that the incubus can assume the shape of some person whose embraces the witch may desire. 6 9 Brignoli, in his Alexicaeon , relates that when he was at Bergamo in 1650, a young man, twenty-two years of age, sought him out and made a long and ample confession. This youth avowed that some months before, when he was in bed, the chamber door opened and a maiden, Teresa, whom he loved, stealthily entered the room. To his surprise she informed him that she had been driven from home and had taken refuge with him. Although he more than suspected some delusion, after a short while he consented to her solicitations and passed a night of unbounded indulgence in her arms. Before dawn, however, the visitant revealed the true nature of the deceit, and the young man realized he had lain with a suceubus. None the less such was his doting folly that the same debauchery was repeated night after night, until struck with terror and remorse, he sought the priest to confess and be delivered from this abomination. “ This monstrous connexion lasted several months ; but at last God delivered him by my humble means, and he was truly penitent for his sins.” 70

Not infrequently the Devil or the familiar assigned to the new witch at the Sabbat when she was admitted must obviously have been a man, one of the assembly, who either approached her in some demoniacal disguise or else embraced her without any attempt at concealment of his individuality, some lusty varlet who would afterwards hold himself at her disposition. For we must always bear in mind that through¬ out these witch-trials there is often much in the evidence which may be explained by the agency of human beings ; not that this essentially meliorates their offences, for they


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 97

were all bond-slaves of Satan, acting under his direction and by the inspiration of helh When the fiend has ministers devoted to his service there is, perhaps, less need for his interposition in propria persona . Howbeit, again and again in these cases we meet with that uncanny quota, by no means insignificant and unimportant, which seemingly admits of no solution save by the materialization of evil intelligences of power. And detailed as is the evidence we possess, it not unseldom becomes a matter of great difficulty, when we are considering a particular case, to decide whether it be an instance of a witch having had actual commerce and com¬ munion with the fiend, or whether she was cheated by the devils, who mocked her, and allowing her to deem herself in overt union with them, thus led the wretch on to misery and death, duped as she was by the father of lies, sold for a delusion and by profitless endeavour in evil. There are. of course, also many cases which stand on the border-line, half hallucination, half reality. Sylvinc de la PJaine, a witch of twenty-three, who was condemned by the Parliament of Paris, 17 May, 1616, was one of these. 71 AntoinetteBreniehon, a married woman, aged thirty, made a confession in almost exactly the same words. Sylvine, her husband Barthelemi Minguet, and Breniehon were hanged and their bodies burned.

Henri Boguet, a Judge of the High Court of Burgundy, in his Discours des Sorders, devotes chapter xii to u The carnal connexion of the Demons with Witches and Sorcerers.” He discusses: 1. The Devil knows all the Witches, & why.

2. He takes a female shape to pleasure the Sorcerers, & why.

3. Other reasons why the Devil (has to do) with warlocks and witches. 72 Frangoise Sccrctain, Clauda Ianprost, laquema Paget, Antoine Tornicr, Antoine Gandillon, Clauda Ianguillaume, Thieuenne Paget, Rolande du Vernois, Ianno Platet, Clauda Paget, and a number of other witches con¬ fessed “their dealings with the Devil.” 78 Pierre Gandillon and his son George also confessed to commerce with the Demon. Under his third division Boguet lays down explicit statements on the matter. 74 75

This unnatural physical coldness of the Demon is com¬ mented upon again and again by witches at their trials in every country of Europe throughout the centuries. I have

H


98 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

already suggested that in some cases there was a full materialization due to ectoplasmic emanations. Now, ectoplasm is described 76 as being to the touch a cold and viscous mass comparable to contact with a reptile, and this certainly seems to throw a flood of light upon these details. It may be that here indeed we have a solution of the whole mystery. In 1645 the widow Bash, a Suffolk witch, of Barton, said that the Devil who appeared to her as a dark swarthy youth 64 was colder than man/ 5 77 Isobel Goudie and Janet Breadheid, of the Auldearne coven, 1662, both asserted that the Devil was 44 a meikle, blak, rock man, werie cold ; and I fand his nature als cold, a spring-well-water. 55 78 Isabel, who had been rebaptized at a Sabbat held one midnight in Auldearne parish church, and to whom was assigned a familiar named the Red Rievcr, albeit he was always clad in black, gave further details of the Devil’s person: 44 He is abler for ws that way than any man can be, onlie he ves heavie lyk a malt-sek ; a hudg nature, uerie cold, as yce.” 79

In many of the cases of debauchery at Sabbats so freely and fully confessed by the witches their partners were undoubtedly the males who were present; the Grand Master, Officer, or President of the Assembly, exercising the right to select first for his own pleasures such women as he chose. This is clear from a passage in De Lancre: 44 The Devil at the Sabbat performs marriages between the warlocks and witches, and joining their hands, he pronounces aloud

Esta es buena parati

Esta parati lo toma.” 80

And in many cases it is obvious that use must have been made of an instrument, an artificial phallus employed. 81

The artificial penis was a commonplace among the erotica of ancient civilizations ; there is abundant evidence of its use in Egypt, Assyria, India, Mexico, all over the world. It has been found in tombs ; frequently was it to be seen as an ex-voto ; in a slightly modified form it is yet the favourite mascot of Southern Italy, 82 Often enough they do not trouble to disguise the form. Aristophanes mentions the object in his Lysistrata (411 b.c.), and one of the most spirited dialogues (VI) of Herodas ( circa 800-250 B.c.) is that where Koritto and Metro prattle prettily of their fiavfiwv, whilst


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 99

(in another mime, VII) the ladies visit Kerdon the leather- worker who has fashioned this masterpiece. Truly Herodas is as modern to-day in London or in Paris as he ever was those centuries ago in the isle of Cos. Fascinum , explains the Glossarium Eroticum Lingua? Latince, 83 “ Penis fictitiixs ex corio, ant pannis lineis uel sericis, quibus mulieres uirum mentiebantur. Antiquissima libido, lesbiis et milesiis feminis prsesertim usitatissima. Fascinis illis abutebantur mere- trices in tardos ascensores. 35 As one might expect Petronins has something to say on the subject in a famous passage where that savage old hag 84 (Enothea fairly frightened Encolpius with her scorteum fascinum , upon which an erudite Spanish scholar, Don Antonio Gonzalez de Salas, glosses : “ Rubrum penem coriaceum ut Suidas exsertim tradit uoce (paXXoi. Confecti & ex uaria materia uarios in usus olim phalli ex ligno, ficu potissimum qui ficulnci ssepius adpellati, ex ebore , ex auro, ex serico> & ex lineo panno , quibus Lesbise tribades abutebantur. 55 85 And Tibullus, speaking of the image of Priapus, has : 86

Placet Priape ? qui sub arboris coma

Soles sacrum reuincte pampino caput

Ruber sedere cum rubente fascino.

The Church, of course, condemned with unhesitating voice all such practices, whether they were connected (in however slight a degree) with Witchcraft or not. Arnobius, who regards all such offences as detestable, in his Aduersus Nationes , V ( circa a.d. 296), relates a curiously obscene anecdote which seems to point to the use of the fascinum by the Galli, the priests of Bereeyntluan Cybelc, 87 whose orgies were closely akin to those of Dionysus. And the same story is related by Clement of Alexandria UporpeirTiKo? 7rpo$ c 'E\A ?7 mg (circa a.d. 1 90) ; by Julius Firmicus Maternus, De Erroreprofanarum Religionum (a.d. 887-350); by Nicetas ( ob . circa a.d. 414) in a commentary'on S. Gregory of Nan- zianzus, oratio XXXIX; and by Theodoret (ob. circa a.d. 457) Sermo octaua de Martyribus* Obviously some very primitive rite is in question.

Lactantius, in his De Falsa Religions (Diuinarum Institu - tionum , I, circa a.d. 804), speaks of a phallic superstition, akin to the fascinum, as favoured by the vestals, and implies


100 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


it was notoriously current in Ms day. That eminent father, S. Augustine, De Ciuitaie Dei , VII, 21, gives some account of the fascinum as used m the rites of Bacchus, and when he is detailing the marriage ceremonies (VI, 9), he writes : “ Sed quid hoc dicam, cum tibi sit et Priapus nimius masculus, super cuius immanissimum et turpissimum fascinum sedere nona nupta iubeatur, more honestissimo et religiosissimo matronarum.” The historian, Evagrius Scholasticus ( ob . post a.d. 504), in his Historia Ecclcsiastica (XI, 2), says that the ritual of Priapus was quite open in his day, and the fascinum widely known. Micephorus Cahxtus, a later Byzantine, who died about the middle of the fourteenth century but whose Chronicle closed with the death of Leo Philosophus, a.d. 911, speaks of phallic ceremonies and of the use of ithy-phalli. 88

Council after council forbade the use of the fascinum, and their very insistence of prohibition show how deeply these abominations had taken root. The Second Council of Chalon-sur-Saone (818) is quite plain and unequivocal; so are the synods of de Mano (1247) and Tours (1896). Burchard of Worms (died 25 Aug., 1025) in his famous Decretum has “ Fecisti quod qusedam mulieres facere sclent, ut facere quoddam molimen aut mechinamentum in modum uirilis membri, ad mensuram tuse uoluptatis, et illud loco ueren- dorum tuorum, aut alterius, cum ahquibus ligaturis colligarcs, et fornicationem faceres cum aliis mulierculis, uel alise eodem instrumento, siue alio, tecum ? Si fecisti, quinque annos per legitimas ferias poeniteas.” And again: “Fecisti quod qusedam mulieres facere solent, ut iam supra dicto molimine uel alio aliquo machinamento, tu ipsa in te solam faceres fornicationem ? Si fecisti, unum annum per legitimas ferias poeniteas.”

Other old Pemtentials have : 66 Mulier qualicumque moli¬ mine aut per seipsum aut cum altera fornicans, tres annos poeniteat; unum ex his in pane et aqua.”

“ Cum sanctimoniali per machinam fornicans annos septem poeniteat; duos ex his in pane et aqua.”

“Mulia qualicumquemolimineautseipsampolluens, aut cum altera fornicans, quatuor annos. Sanctimonialis femina cum sanctimoniali per machinamentum polluta, septem annos.”

It is demonstrable, then, that artificial methods of coition,


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS


101


common in pagan antiquity, have been unblushingly prac¬ tised throughout all the ages, as indeed they are at the present day, and that they have been repeatedly banned and reprobated by the voice of the Church. This very fact would recommend them to the favour of the Satanists, and there can be no doubt that amid the dark debaucheries which celebrated the Sabbats such practice was wellnigh universal. Yet when we sift the evidence, detailed and exact, of the trials, we find there foul and hideous mysteries of lust which neither human intercourse nor the employ of a mechanical property can explain. Howbeit, the theologians and the inquisitors are fully aware what unspeakable horror lurks in the blackness beyond.

The animal familiar was quite distinct from the familiar in human shape. In England particularly there is abundance of evidence concerning them, and even to-day who pictures a witch with nut-cracker jaws, steeple hat, red cloak, hobbling along on her crutch, without her big black cat beside her ? It is worth remark that in other countries the domestic animal familiar is rare, and Bishop Francis Hutchinson even says : “ I meet with little mention of Imps in any Country but ours, where the Law makes the feeding, suckling, or rewarding of them to be Felony, 55 80 Curiously enough this familiar is most frequently met with in Essex, Suffolk, and the Eastern counties. We find that animals of all kinds were regarded,as familiars; dogs, cats, ferrets, weasels, toads, rats, mice, birds, hedgehogs, hares, even wasps, moths, bees, and flies. It is piteous to think that in many cases some miserable creature who, shunned and detested by her fellows, has sought friendship in the love of a cat or a dog, whom she has fondled and lovingly fed with the best tit-bits she could give, on the strength of this affection alone was dragged to the gallows or the stake. But very frequently the witch did actually keep some small animal which she nourished on a diet of milk and bread and her own blood in order that she might divine by its means. The details of this particular method of augury are by no means clear. Probably the witch observed the gait of the animals, its action, the tones of its voice easily interpreted to bear some fanciful meaning, and no doubt a dog, or such a bird as a raven, a daw, could be taught tricks to impress the simplicity of inquirers.


102 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

The exceeding importance of blood In life has doubtless been evident to man from the earliest times. Man experienced a feeling of weakness after the loss of blood, therefore blood was strength, life Itself, and throughout the ages blood has been considered to be of the greatest therapeutic, and the profoundest magical, value. The few drops of blood the witch gave her familiar were not only a reward, a renewal of strength, but also they established a closer connexion between herself and the dog, cat, or bird as the case might be. Blood formed a psychic copula.

At the trial of Elizabeth Francis, Chelmsford, 1550, the accused confessed that her familiar, given to her by her grandmother, a notorious witch, was “ in the lykenesse of a whyte spotted Catte,” and her grandmother “ taughte her to feede the sayde Catte with breade and mylke, and she did so, also she taughte her to cal it by the name of Sattan and to kepe it in a basket. Item that euery tyme that he did any thynge for her, she sayde that he required a drop of bloude, which she gaue him by prycking herselfe, sometime in one place and then in another. 5 ’ 90 It is superfluous to multiply instances ; in the witch-trials of Essex, particularly whilst Matthew Hopkins and his satellite John Stearne were hot at work from 1645 to 1647 the animal familiar is men¬ tioned again and again in the records. As late as 1694 at Bury St. Edmunds, when old Mother Munnings of Hartis, in Suffolk, was haled before Lord Chief Justice Holt, it was asserted that she had an imp like a polecat. But the judge pooh-poohed the evidence of a pack of clodpate rustics and directed the jury to bring a verdict of Not Guilty. 91 “ Upon particular Enquiry,” says Hutchinson, “ of several in or near the Town, I find most are satisfied it was a very right Judgement.” In 1712 the familiar of Jane Wenham, the witch of Walkerne, in Hertfordshire, was, at her trial, stated to be a cat.

In Ford and Dekker’s The Witch of Edmonton the familiar appears upon the stage as a dog. This, of course, is directly taken from Henry Goodcole’s pamphlet The Wonder full Discouerie of Elizabeth Sawyer (London, 4to, 1621), where in answer to this question the witch confesses that the Devil came to her in the shape of a dog, and of two colours, some¬ times of black and sometimes of white. Some children had


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 103

informed the Court that they had seen her feeding imps* two white ferrets, with white bread and milk, but this she steadfastly denied. In Goethe’s Faust , Part I, Scene 2, Mephistopheles first appears to Faust outside the city gates as a black poodle and accompanies him hack to his study, snarling and yelping when In Prineipio is read. This is part of the old legend. Manlius (1590), in the report of his conversation with Melanchthon, quotes the latter as having said : “ He [Faust] had a dog with him, which was the devil.” Paolo Jovio relates 92 that the famous Cornelius Agrippa always kept a demon attendant upon him in the shape of a black dog. But John Weye, in his well-known work De Prcestigiis DcemonumF 3 informs us that he had lived for years in daily attendance upon Agrippa and that the black dog, Monsieur , respecting which such strange stories were spread was a perfectly innocent animal which he had often led about himself in its leash. Agrippa was much attached to his dog, which used to cat off the table with him and of nights lie in his bed. Since he was a profound scholar and a great recluse he never troubled to contradict the idle gossip his neighbours clacked at window and door. It is hardly surprising when one considers the hermetic works which go under Agrippa’s name that even in his life¬ time this great man should have acquired the reputation of a mighty magician.

Grotesque names were generally given to the familiar: Lizabet; Yerd-Joli; Maitre Persil (parsley); Verdclet; Martinet; Abrahel (a succubus); and to animal familiars in England, Tissy; Grissell; Greedigut; Blackman ; Jezebel (a succubus); Ilemanzar; Jarmara; Pyewackett.

The familiar in human shape often companied with the witch and was visible to clairvoyants. Thus in 1324 one of the accusations brought against Lady Alice Kyteler was that a demon came to her 64 quandoque in specie cuiusdam sethiopis cum duobus sociis.” The society met with at Sabbats is not so easily shaken off as might be wished.

tOTm TO CHAPTER III.

1 . Two local Milanese Orders, the Apostolini of S. Barnabas and the Congre¬ gation of S. Ambrose ad Nemus> were united by a Brief of Sixtus V, 15 August, 1589. 11 January, 1006, Paul V approved the new Constitutions. The

Congregation retaining very few members was dissolved by Innocent X in 1650. TJie habit was a tunic, broad scapular, and capuehe of chestnut brown.


104 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


They were caleed, and m the streets a wide cloak of the same colour as the habit.

2 E. Goldsmid, Confessions of Witches under Torture , Edinburgh, 1886.

3 . . . renoncer & renier son Createur, la saincte Vierge, les Samcts, le Baptesme, per©, mere, parons, le ciel, la terre & tout ce qui est au monde. Tableau de VInconstance des mauvais Anges, Paris, 1613.

4 Je, Louis Gaufridi, rononce a tous les biens tant spmtuels que temporels qm me pouvraient 6tre conferes de la part de Dieu, de la Vierge Mane, de tous les Saints et Saintes du Paradis, particuherement de mon patron Samt Jean-Baptisfce, Saints Fieri e, Paul, et Francois, et me donne corps et ante a vous Lucifer ici pi ©sent, avec tous les biens que je poss^dorai jamais (except© la valeur des sacroments pour lo regard de ceux qm les recurent) Ainsi j’ai signo et attoste. Confession faide par messire Toys Gaufudi, pt estre en V4gltse des Accoules do Marseille. p?ince des magiczens d deux peres capucms du convent d'Aix, la veille de Basques le onzieme avml mil six cent onze A Aix, par Jean Tholozan, MYCXI.

5 Je renonce onixorement de tout mon coeur, de tout© ma force, et do tout© ma puissance a Dieu lo Pore, au Fils ot au Saint-Esput, 4 la ties Samte Mere de Dieu, a tous les angos et spceialement a mon bon ange, a la passion do Notre Seignour Jesus Christ, A Son Sang, A tous les mantes d’icello, A ma pait de Paradis, a toutes les inspirations que Dieu me pourrait donner a l’avenir, a toutes les p no res qu’on a faites ot pouri ait fairo pour moi.

6 S Pius V, Bull Gonsueuerunt , 17 September, 1669 : Bl. Francisco de Possadas, Vida di Santo Domingo , Madrid, 1721.

7 In England at this date it was folouy to possess an Agnus Dei,

8 Bpondent quod . . ad•r.onuenlub noclmnos diligenter accedent.

0 Coven, coevon, covine, curving, covey, are among the many spellings of this word

10 R Pitcairn, Criminal Trials , Edinburgh, 1833.

11 Examination of Get tain Witches » Philobiblion Society, London, 1863-4

12 Thomas Potts, Discoverie of Witches.

13 . . . qu’elle a veu souuont baptiser dos onfans au sabbat, qu’elle nous oxphqua ©stro des enfans dos soicieres & non autres, lesquellos ont ac- coutume faire plustost baptiser lours onfans au sabbat qu’en lAglise, Pierro de Lancre, Tableau de VInconstance des mauvais Anges, Paris, 1613.

14 . . . qu’on baptise des enfans au Sabbat auec du Cresme, que des femmes apportent, & frottont la verge d© quolque liomrne, & en font sortir de la semence qu’elles amassent, and la meslent auec le Cresme, puis mottant cela sur la teste do Penfant en pronon^ant quolques parolos en Latin. Contem¬ porary tract. Arrest <& piocedurc faicte par le Lieutenant Cnmmel d* Orleans centre Siluain Nemllon .

X6 . . . dit quo sa mere le prosonta (dit-on) on Faage de trois ans au Sabbat, 4 vn boue, qu’on appelloii 1’Aspic. Dit qu’xl f ut baptist au Sabbat, au Carrier d'OIiuet, auoc quatorze ou qumzo autros, & quo Jeanne Ceraut porta du Chresme qui estoit jauno dans vn pot, & que ledit Neuillon letta de la semence dans ledit pot, & vn nomml Semello, & brouiiloient cela auec vno petite cuilliore do bo is, & puis leur on mirent 4 tous sur la tosto.

16 J’advoue comme on baptise au Sabath et comme ehacun soreier fait voeu particuherement so dormant au diable et fairo baptiser tous ses onfants au Sabath (si fairo se pent). Comrao aussi l’on impose des noms A^iacun de ceux qm sont au Sabath, differents de leur propro nom. J’advoue comme au bap to me on se sort de l’oau, du soufro ot du sol: le soufre rend esclave le diable ©t lo sel pour confirmer le baptmio au service du diable. J’advoue comme la forme et l’intention est do baptiser au nom do Lucifer, de Belzobuih et autres diablos faisant le sign© de la croix on le common^ant par le travers et puis lo poursuivant par les pieds ot fmissant 4 la tote. Contemporary tract, Confession faicte par messire Toys Gaufridi, prestre en Viglise des Accoules de Marseille , prince des magiciens , MVCXI,

17 Anthony Hornech’s appendix to GlanvilPs Sadducismus Triumphatus, London, 1681.

18 Newes from Scotland, London, W. Wright, 1592.


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 105

10 Prsestant Dsemoni . . . mramontum super circulo in t err am sculp to fortasse quia cum cireulus sit Symbolum Divmitatis, & terra scabellum Dei sic certe uollet eos credere se esse Dommum cceh & terras Guazzo, Compen¬ dium , I. 7, p 38. I have corrected the text, which runs “uellet eos credere eum esset . .

20 Even by so industrious a searcher as Miss M. A. Murray.

21 Dressant quelque forme d’autel sur des colohes mfernales, & sur iceluy sans dire le Confiteor , ny VAUeluya , tournant les feuillets d’vn certain liure qu’il a en mam, il commence a marmoter quclques mots de la Messo. Do Lancre, Tableau, p. 401.

22 . . . quo le Sabbat se tenoit dans vne maison . Vit aussi vn grand homme noir a Topposite de celuy de la chemmee, qui regardoit dans vn liure, dont les feuillets ©stolen t noirs & bleuds, & mar mot ait entre ses dents sans entendre ce qu’il disoit, leuoit vne hostic noire, puis vn ealice de merchant eat am tout crasseux

23 On dit la Messe, & que e’est le Diablo qui la dit, quhl a vne Chasuble qui a vne croix . mais qu’elle n’a quo trois barres * & tourno le dos a TAutol quand il vout leuer PHostie & le Calice, qui sont noirs, & marmote dans vn liure, duquel le couuerture est tout© voluo comm© d’vne peau de loup, auec des feuillets blancs & rouges, d’auties noirs.

24 On lisait la messe dans le livre des blasphemes, qui sfavail de canon et qu’on omployait aussi dans les processions. LI roalcrmait les plus horribles maledictions contro la saint© Tunite, le Sami Sac rein out de Tautel, les autres sacrements et les ceremonies de FEglisc, et il otait cent dans une langue qm m’etait mconnue. Gorros, La Mystique Divine, trad , Chailos Saint e-Fcn, V. p. 230. There is a critical ieeensiou of Die christhche Mystih by Borctius and Krause, Hanover, 1893-7

25 Newes from Scotland , London, W. Wright (1592)

26 Book HI. p 42.

27 T. B. Howell, Slate Trials* London, 1810. IV, 841, 846

28 S. Caleb, Les Messes Noires , Paris, s.d.

28 Apres ce que nous out appns les livres et les ames, il n© nous est pas permis de douter, et notre devoir est de combattre, no hU-ce quo par un simple affirmation, les nombroux auteurs qui, effrordernont ou tcmerairomen t, traitent c6s horreurs do fables ou d’hallucinations. La Mystique Divine, nouvello Edition, Paris, 1902. Ill, pp 269, 270

30 Ces histones, loin d’etre fabulous©©, out tout© ^authenticity quo pout leur donner une procedure instruiie avec tout le zdle ©t le talent quo pouvaient y apportor des magistrals 4elair6s et consciencienx, auacquels, il toutes les Spoques, les fails ne manquaient pas. Libre III. c. 8.

31 De Giuitate Dei , xv. 23, 1 quote Healey’s translation, 1010.

82 Esse eorum (qui usuahtor meubi uel succubi nominantur) et concupis- centiam eorum libidmosam, necnon et genorationem ab ois osse famosam atqno credibilem fecorunt testimoma uirorum et niuliorem qui lllubiones xpsorum, molestiasqu© et improbitates, necnon ot uiolontias libidmis lpsorum, se passes fuisse tostificati sunt ot adhuc asserunt. De XJniversitate, Secunda Pars, III. 25.

33 Si tamon ex coitu daraonmn aliqui mtordum naseuntur, hoc non est per semen ah ©is decision, aut a corponbus assimrptis ; sod per semen ahcuius homims ad hoc accoptum, utpot© quod idem daunon qui est succubus ad uirum, fiat incubus ad muherem. Summa, Pars Prima, qu&'stio 1, a 3. at 6.

34 Succumbunt uins in specie muheiis, et ox ois semen pollutioms ausci- piunt, et quadam sagacitate ipsum in sua uirtuto custodiunt, et postmodum, Deo permittente, hunt incubi ot m uasa muliorum transfun dun t. Sententi - arum , Liber II, d. viii, Pars Prima, a 3. q. 1.

35 Docet S. Thomas . . • ot consontiunt communitor roliqui theologi. , . . Ratio hums sententioc ©st quia iota ilia actio non oxcedit potestatem natur- alem daemonis, usus autem tabs potostatis ost ualde confonnls prau® uolun- tati dsemonis, et iuste a Deo permitti potest propter aliquorum horaimim peccata. Ergo non potest cum fundamonto nogari, et ideo non immerito dixit Augustinus, cum de illo usu multis oxponentiis et tostimomis constet, non sine impudentia negari. De Angelis , 1. iv. c. 38. nn. 10, 11.


106


THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


30 Begun m 1665 by Fra Francisco de J^sus-Maria (ob 1677),

37 Negant aliqui, eredentes impossible esse quod deemones actum carnalem cum homimbus exercere ualent. Sed tenenda est ut ommno certa contrana sententia. Theologia moralis, Tr. xxi. c. 11. p. 10. nn. 180, 181.

38 Idem daemon qui est succubus ad uirum potest fieri mcubus ad mulierom. In his monumental Summa S Thomce hodiemis Academiarum monbus accom - data, 19 vols Liege, 1746-51

39 De Seiuonem Dei Beatifications , Romeo, MDCCXC, Cura Aloysu Salviom. Tom. VILpp 30-33.

40 Quse leguntur de Doemonibus meubis et succubis. . . . Quamuis emm prsedicti concubitus commumter admittantur, sed goneratis a nonnullis ©x- eludetur . . . alii, tamen, turn concubitum, turn generationera fieri posse, et factam fuisse existimauerunt, modo quodam nouo et musitate, ©t homimbus incognito. Sancho d© Avila, bishop of Murcia, Jaen, and Siguenza, S. Teresa’s confessor (ob December, 1625), m a commentary on Exodus discusses the curious question : An Angeh de se generate possmt ?

41 Quidam hos deemones meubos uel succubos dan negarunt; sed com- mumtei id affirmant auctores.

42 Ad bestialitatem autem reuocatur peccatum cum daemons succubo, uel meubo ; cui peccato superadditur mahtia contra religionem , ot prooterea etiam sodomia?, adulteni, uol mcestus, si affectu uiri, uel mulieus, sodomitico, adultermo uel incestuoso cum doemone eoeat Lib. Ill, Tract iv c 2. Dubium 3

43 The word bestiahtas has theologically a far wider signification than the word bestiality. In 1222 a deacon, having been tried before Archbishop Langton, was burned at Oxford on a charge of bestiality. He had embraced Judaism in order to marry a Jewess. Professor E. P. Evans remarks : “ It seems rather odd that the Christian lawgivers should have adopted the Jewish code against sexual intercourse with boasts, and then enlarged it so as to include the Jews themselves The question was gravely discussed by jurists whether cohabitation of a Christian with a Jewess, or vice versa , constitutes sodomy. Damhouder ( Prax rer. cnm. c 96 n 48) is of the opinion that it does, and Nicolaus Boer (Decis , 136, n. 5) cites the case of a certain Johannes Alardus, or Jean Alard, who kept a Jewess m his house m Pans and had several children by her * he was convicted of sodomy on account of this rela¬ tion and burned, together with his pai amour, 4 since coition with a Jewess is precisely the same as if a man should copulate with a dog ’ ( Dopl Theat. ii, p. 157). Damhoudor includes Turks and Saracens m the saino category,” The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals, p. 152 London, 1906.

44 An oblate of S Charles, d 1631.

45 1566-1622. His Synopsis Theologim Moralis is a posthumous work, published 1626.

46 Bene ait Busembaurn quod congressus cum dapmone reducitur ad pecca¬ tum bestialitatis. Hermann Busembaurn, S J , 1600-1668.

47 Theologia moralis decalogalis et sacramentahs. Venice, 1731 *

48 Prosier autem crimen bestialitatis accedit scelus suporstitionis, An autem, qui coit cum daemon© apparent© in forma conjugata?, momahs, aut eonsangumiae, peccet semper affective peccato adult orb, saerilegii, aut in* eestus ? Uidetur uniuerse affirmar© Busembaurn cum aliis ut supra.

49 Paris, 1883.

A private manual only delivered to priests.

S1 Omnes theologi loquuntur de congressu cum deemon© in forma uni, mulieris aut alicuius bestiae apparent©, uel ut present© per imaginationom reproasentato, dicuntque tale peccatum ad genus bestialitatis reuocandum esse, et specialem habere mahtiam in confession© doclarandam, scilicet super- stitionem in pact© cum daemon© consistentom. In hoc igitur scelere duso nocessario repenuntur mahtiae, una contra castitatem, ot altera contra ulr- tutem religionis. Si quis ad daemonem sub specie uiri appareniem affectu sodomitico aecedat, tertia ©st species peccati, ut patet. Item si sub specie consanguine*© aut mulieris conjugate fingatur apparere, adest species incestus uel adulterii ; si sub specie bestiae, adest bestiahtas.


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS


107


52 1722-1797. He was a monk of Bans, near Bamberg.

53 Quseri potest utram daemon per turpem concubitum possit uiolenter oppnmere marem uel femmam cuius obsessio permissa sit ob finem perfec- tioms et contemplatioms acquirentice. TJt autem uera a falsis separemus, sciendum est quod doemones (mcubi et succubi, quidquxd dicant mcreduli) uere dantur : immo hoc luxta doctrmam Augustim (lib. 15, de Ciuit. Dei, cap. 23) sme aliqua impudentia negari nequit: .. Hoc idem assent D. Thomas, alnque commumter Hie uero, qm talia patiuntur, sunt peccatores qui uel dsemones ad hos nefandos concubitus muitant, uel daemombus turpia base faemora mtentantibus ultro assentrantur. Quod autem hi alnque praui homines possmt per molentiam a daemon© opprimi non dubitamus : , . . et ego ipse plures mueni qui quamuis de admissis sceleribus dolerent; et hoc nefarium diaboh commercium exsecrarentur, tamen lllud pati cogebantur muiti D. Schram, Theologia Mystica, I. 233, scholium 3, p. 408. Pans, 1848.

54 1532-1591. Provincial of the Jesuit province of the Rhine.

55 Congressus hos dsemonum cum utrmsque sexus homimbus negare, ita temerarium est, ut necessanum sit simul conuellas et sanctissimorum et grauissimorum homnium grauissimas sententias, et humanis sensibus bellum mdicas, et te ignorare fatoans quanta sit illorum spirituum in hsec corpora uis utque potestas. C. x. n. 3.

56 Placuit enirn affirmatio axiomatis adeo multis, ut uerendum sit no per- tmacne et audacise sit ab eis discoder©; communis namque lure est sententia Patrum, theologorum ot plnlosophorum doctiorum, et omnium fere szeculorran atque nationum ©xperientia compiobata. Liber II, quaestio 15

67 Asserero por meubos et succubos dopmones homines niterdum procreari in tantum est catholicum, quod ems oppositum asserero est nedum diet is Sanctorum, sed et traditioni saerae Scripturao contrarium. Pars prima , queestio 3.

58 Causa autom quare dajmones so iucubos faemnt uel succubos ess© uidetur, ut per luxurne uitium homims utramque naturam laedant, corporis uidelicet et ammae, qua in lcosiono praecipuo dolectari uidentur. Tins divine was a prominent figure at the Council of Btlle. I have used the Douai edition, 5 vols 1602.

69 Daemon in forma succubi so transformat, et habet coitum cum uiro . . . ; accedit ad muherom m forma scilicet uiri. . . . Ita firmant communiter Theo- l°gi-

60 Certissima ©xperientia eaep© eognitum est foumnas etiam inuitas a daemombus fuisse compressas. De justa hcereticorum punitione , Lib. I, c xvm. Salamanca, 1547.

61 Haec est mdubitata ueritas quam non solum experientia certissima com- probat, sed etiam antiquitas confirmat, quidquid qmdam medici ot iurisperiti opmentur. Conclusio quinta .

62 Affirmatiuam sententiam tam multi et graues tuentur auctoros, ut sine pertinaciae nota ab ilia discedi non posse uidatur.

63 Rapports de Fhomme avec le dimon .

04 Les hauts phenomlnes de la magic .

65 Sane ad nostrum, non sme ingenti molestia, peruonit auditum quod . . . complures utrmsque sexus personae, propnae salutis immemorcs et a fide catholica demantes, cum daemombus incubis et su ecu bis abuti.

1 68 The Dean of S. Paul’s ( Christian Mysticism, 1899, p 265) urbanely dismisses the whole subject with a quotation from Lucretius i

Hunc igitur terrorom animi, tenebrasque necossest

Non radii sobs, nequo lucida tela diei

Discutiant, sed naturae species ratioque. (I. 147-49.)

These Fears, that darkness that o’orsproads our Souls,

Day can’t disperse, but those eternal rules Which from firm Premises true Reason draws,

And a deep insight into Natures laws. {Creech.)

67 De Dmmonialitate, 24.


108 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


68 Survival , by various authors. Edited by Sir James Marchant, k.b e., Eli D. London and New York.

83 So m Middleton’s The Witch , when the young gallant Almachildes visits Hecate’s abode, she exclaims :

’Tis Almachildes—the fresh blood stirs in me—

The man that I have lusted to enj oy ;

I’ve had him thneo m meubus already.

And m a previous scene Hecate has said :

What young man can we wish to pleasure us,

But we enjoy him m an incubus ?

70 Ce commerce monstreux dura plusiers mois ; mais Dieu Io dehvra enfin par mon entremise et il fit penitence de ses peches.

71 Auoir este au Sabbat; n© s$ait comm© ello y fut transports© . . . qu’au Sabbat le Diabl© cogneust charnellement toutes les femmes qui y estoient, & elle aussi la marqua ©n deux endroiets. . . Que 1© Diabl© la cogneu vne autre¬ fois, & quhl a le membre faict commo un cheual, en entrant ost froid comm© glace, iette la semence fort froid©, & en sortant la brass© comme si c’estoit du feu. Qu’elle receut tout mescontontement que lors qu’il out habit6 auec elle au Sabbat, vn autre homme qu’elle ne cognoist fit lo semblable en presence de tous, que son mary s’appercut quand le Diablo eut affaire auee elle, Sc que le Diable se vmt coucher auprez d’elle fort froid, luy mit la mam stir le bas du ventro, dont elle effrayee en ayant aduerty son mary, il luy diet ces mots, Taise-toy foil©, taise-toy. Que son mary vit quand 1© Diable la cogneust au Sabbat, ensemble cet autre qui la cogneust apres.

72 L’aecouplement du Demon avec la Sorciere ot le Sorcier.... 1. Le Demon cognoit toutes les Soreieres, & pourquoy. 2. Il se met aussi en femme pour les Soreiers, & pourquoy. 3. Aufcres raisons pour lesquelles le Demon cognoit les Sorciers, Sc Soreieres.

73 . . . qui Satan l’auoit cogneue charnollemont. ... It!t pource que les hommes ne cedent guieres aux femmes en lubncitd.

74 ji

y a encor deux autres raisons pour lesquelles le Diable s’accoupl© auec le Sorcior : La premiere, que Toffonse est de tant plus grande . Car si Dieu a on si grande hame raccouplement du fidolle auec 1’infidele (Exodus xxxiv,, Deuteronomy xxxvn.), a combion plus forte raison detestorait celuy de l’liomme auec lo Diablo. La second© raison est, que pare© moyen la semence naturolle de Fhomme sc pert, d’oh vient que 1’amitie qui ost entro l’homxne & la femme, se comiertit le plus souuent on hame, qui est 1’vn des plus grands mal-hears, qui pourroient arriuer au manage,

75 In chapter xin Boguet docidos ; l’accouploment de Satan auec lo Sorcier est reel & non imagmaire. . . , Les vns done s’en moequet . . . mais les con¬ fessions des Sorciers qui j’ay eu on main, mo font croire qu’il on est quelque chose! dautant qu’ils ont tout rocogneu, qu’ils auoiont este couploz auec lo Diable, & que la semence quhl icttoit estoit fort froide . . . laquema Paget adioustoit, qu’elle auoit ompoigne plusiers fois aucc la mam le mebre du Demon, qm la cogaoissoit, Sc que lo membre estoit froid commo glace, log d’vn bon doigt, Sc momdro en grossour que celuy d’vn hommo : Tieuonne Paget, & Antomo Tormor adioustoiont aussi, que le membre de lours Demons estoit long, & gros commo 1’vn de leurs doigts.

76 Henze, Do the Dead Live ? 1923.

77 John Steame’s Confirmation and Discovery of Witchcraft.

78 Robert Pitcairn, Criminal Trials, Edinburgh, 1833, HI. pp 603, 611, 617.

79 Idem.

80 Le Diable faict des manages au Sabbat entre les Sorciers Sc Soreieres, Sc lour j oignant les mains, il leur diet hautement

Esta es buena parati Esta parati lo toma.


DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 109

Mais auant quhls couchent ensemble, ll s’accouple auec ©lies, oste la virgimtb des filles Lancre, Tableau de V Inconstance, p. 132.

81 This has been emphasized by Miss Mm ray in The Witch-Cult in Western Em ope (“ The Rites ”), but she did not realize that the fascimum was well- known to demonologists, and the use thereof severely i ©probated sub moriah by the Church

82 See G Belluei, Amuletti Itahani antichi e contemporanei , also Amuletti itahani contemporanei Perugia, 1898

82 Auctore P P. Parisns, MDCCCXXVI.

81 Crudelissima anus. Petronii Satuae 138 p 105. Tertium edidit Buochcler Berlin 1895

85 Titi. Petronn iSatyncon, Concinnant© Michael© Hadriainde Amato - lodami, 1669 Amongst tho figures on the engraved title-page is a witch mounted on her broomstick

se priapeia LXXXXV

87 For whose impudioities see S Augustin©, jDe Ciuitate Dei, VII. 26.

88 Priapi lignei m honorem Baechi

89 Francis Hutchinson, Historical Essay , London, 1718

90 Witches at Chelmsford, Philobibhon Society, VJ11.

91 Francis iTutchmson, Historical Essay on Witchcraft , 1718.

93 Elogia Doctorum Uworum , c. 101.

93 Libor II ; c. v.; 11, 12


CHAPTER IV


The Sabbat

The Assemblies of the witches differed very much from each other in an almost infinite number of ways. On certain ancient anniversaries the meeting was always particularly solemn, with as large an attendance as possible, when all who belonged to the infernal cult would be required to present themselves and punishment was meted out to those who proved slack and slow; at other times these gatherings would be occasional, resorted to by the company who resided within a certain restricted area, it might be by only one coven of thirteen, it might be by a few more, as opportunity served. There were also, as is to be expected, variations proper to each country, and a seemingly endless number of local peculiarities. There does not clearly appear to be any formal and fair order in the ceremonies throughout, nor should we look for this, seeing that the liturgy of darkness is of its essence opposed to the comely worship of God, wherein, as the Apostle bids, all things are to be done “ decently and in order.” 1 The ceremonial of hell, sufficiently complex, obscure, and obscene, is even more confused in the witches’ narratives by a host of adventitious circumstances, often contradictory, nay, even mutually exclusive, and so although we can piece together a very complete picture of their orgies, there are some details which must yet remain unexplained, incompre¬ hensible, and perhaps wholly irrational and absurd. “ Le burlesque s’y mele a Thorrible, et les puerilitds aux abomina¬ tions.” (Ribet, La Mystique Divine, III. 2. Les Parodies Diaboliques.) (Mere clowning and japery are mixed up with circumstances of extremest horror; childishness and folly with loathly abominations.) In the lesser Assemblies much, no doubt, depended upon the fickle whim and unwholesome caprice of the officer or president at the moment. The conduct of the more important Assemblies was to a certain extent

no


THE SABBAT


111


regularized and more or less loosely ran upon traditional lines. The name Sabbat may be held to coyer every kind of gathering, 2 although it must continually be borne in mind that a Sabbat ranges from comparative simplicity, the secret rendezvous of some half a dozen wretches devoted to the fiend, to a large and crowded congregation presided over by incarnate evil intelligences, a mob outvying the very demons in malice, blasphemy, and revolt, the true face of pandemonium on earth.

The derivation of the word Sabbat does not seem to be exactly established. It is perhaps superfluous to point out that it has nothing to do with the number seven, and is wholly unconnected with the Jewish festival. Saint e-Croix and Alfred Maury 3 arc agreed to derive it from the debased Bacchanalia. Sabazius ( 'Ea/3d£io $) was a Phrygian deity, sometimes identified with Zeus, sometimes with Dionysus, but who was generally regarded as the patron of licentiousness and worshipped with frantic debaucheries. He is a patron of the ribald old Syrian eunuch in Apuleius : tc omnipotens et omniparens Dea Syria et sanctus Sabadius et Bellona et Mater Idaea (ac) cum sue Adonc Venus domina” 4 are the deities whom Philcbus invokes to avenge him of the mocking crier. 2a fia^eiv is found in the Scholiast on Aristophane (Birds, 874), and craftat, a Bacchic yell, occurs in a fragment of the Baptce of Eupolis ; the fuller phrase euol 'Eaftdi being reported by Strabo the geographer. The modern Greeks still call a madman £a/3o?. But Littr<5 entirely rejects any such facile etymology. 4 ‘Attempts have been made to trace the etymology of the Sabbat, the witches’ assembly, from Sabazies; but the formation of the word does not allow it; besides, in the Middle Ages, what did they know about Sabazies ? ” 5

Even the seasons of the principal Assemblies of the year differ in various countries. Throughout the greater part of Western Europe one of the chief of these was the Eve of May Day, 80 April ; 6 in Germany 7 famous as Die Walpurgis- Nacht. S. Walburga (Walpurgis; Waltpurde; at Pcrche Gauburge ; in other parts of France Vaubourg or Falbourg) was born in Devonshire circa 710. She was the daughter of S. Richard, one of the under-kings of the West Saxons, who married a sister of S. Boniface. In 748 Walburga, who was


112 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

then a nun of Wimbourne, went over to Germany to found claustral life in that country. After a life of surpassing holiness she died at Heidenheim, 25 February, 777. Her cultus began immediately, and about 870 her relics were translated to Eichstadt, where the Benedictine convent which has charge of the sacred shrine still happily flourishes. S. Walburga was formerly one of the most popular Saints in England, as well as in Germany and the Low Countries. She is patroness of Eichstadt, Oudcnarde, Fumes, Groningen, Weilburg, Zutphen, and Antwerp, where until the Roman office was adopted they celebrated her feast four times a year. In the Roman martyrology she is commemorated on 1 May, but in the Monastic Kalendar on 25 February. The first of May was the ancient festival of the Druids, when they offered sacrifices upon their sacred mountains and kindled their May-fires. These magic observances were appropriately continued by the witches of a later date. There was not a hill-top in Finland, so the peasant believed, which at mid¬ night on the last day of April was not thronged by demons and sorcerers.

The second witches 5 festival was the Eve of S. John Baptist, 28 June. Then were the S. John’s fires lit, a custom in certain regions still prevailing, 8 In olden times the Feast was distinguished like Christmas with three Masses; the first at midnight recalled his mission as Precursor, the second at dawn commemorated the baptism he confessed, the third honoured his sanctity.

Other Grand Sabbat days, particularly in Belgium and Germany, were S. Thomas’ Day (21 December) and a date, which seems to have been movable, shortly after Christmas. In Britain we also find Candlemas (2 February), Allhallowc’en (81 October), and Lammas (1 August), mentioned in the trials. Wright, Narratives of Sorcery and Magic (I. p. 141), further specifies S. Bartholomew’s Eve, but although a Sabbat may have been held on this day, it would seem to be an exceptional or purely local use.

During a famous trial held in the winter of 1810 at Logrono, a town of Old Castille, by the Apostolic Inquisitor, Alonso Becerra Holguin, an Alcantarine friar, with his two assessors Juen Valle Alvarado and Alonso de Salasar y Frias, a number of Navarrese witches confessed that the chief Sabbats were


THE SABBAT


113


usually held at Zugarramurdi and Berroscobcrro in the Basque districts, and that the days were fixed, being the vigils of the “nine principal feasts of the year, 55 namely, Easter, Epiphany, Ascension Bay, the Purification and Nativity of Our Lady, the Assumption, Corpus Christi, All Saints, and the major festival of S. John Baptist (24 June). It is certainly curious to find no mention of Christmas and Pentecost in this list, but throughout the whole of the process not one of the accused—and we have their evidence in fullest detail—named either of these two solemnities as being chosen for the infernal rendezvous. 9

Satan is, as Boguet aptly says, 44 Singe de Dieu en tout, 5510 and it became common to hold a General Sabbat about the time of the high Christian festivals in evil mockery of these holy solemnities, and he precisely asserts that the Sabbat 44 se tient encor aux festes les plus solemnelles de Pannee.” 11 (Is still held on the greatest festivals of the year.) So he records the confession of Antide Colas (1598), who 44 auoit est 6 au Sabbat a vn ehacun bon iour de Pan, coniine k Noel, 4 Pasques, a la feste de Dieu. 55 The Lancashire witches met on Good Friday; and in the second instance (1688) on All Saints’ Day; the witches of Kinross (1G62) held an assembly on the feast of Scotland’s Patron, S. Andrew, 80 November, termed 44 S. Andrew’s Day at Yule,” to dis¬ tinguish it from the secondary Feast of the Translation of S. Andrew, 9 May. The New England witches were wont to celebrate their chief Sabbat at Christmas. In many parts of Europe where the Feast of S. George is solemnized with high honour and holiday the vigil (22 April) is the Great Sabbat of the year. The Huzulo of the Carpathians believe that then every evil thing has power and witches are most dangerous. Not a Bulgarian or Roumanian farmer but closes up each door and fastens close each window at night¬ fall, putting sharp thorn-bushes and brambles on the lintels, new turf on the sills, so that no demon nor hag may find entry there.

The Grand Sabbats were naturally held in a great variety of places, whilst the lesser Sabbats could be easily assembled in an even larger number of spots, which might be convenient to the coven of that district, a field near a village, a wood, a tor, a valley, an open waste beneath some blasted oak, a

i


114 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

cemetery, a mined building, some solitary chapel or semi- deserted church, sometimes a house belonging to one of the initiates.

It was advisable that the selected locality should be remote and deserted to obviate any chance of espionage or casual interruption, and in many provinces some wild ill- omened gully or lone hill-top was shudderingly marked as the notorious haunt of witches and their fiends. De Lancre says that the Grand Sabbat must be held near a stream, lake, or water of some kind, 12 and Bodin adds : “ The places where Sorcerers meet are remarkable and generally dis¬ tinguished by some trees, or even a cross. 5 ’ 13 These ancient cromlechs and granite dolmens, the stones of the Marais de Dol, the monolith that lies between Seny and Ellemelle (Candroz), even the market-crosses of sleepy old towns and English villages, were among the favourite rendezvous of the pythons and warlocks of a whole countryside. On one occasion, which seems exceptional, a Sabbat was held in the very heart of the city of Bordeaux. Throughout Germany the Blocksburg or the Brocken, the highest peak of the Hartz Mountains, was the great meeting-place of the witches, some of whom, it was said, came from distant Lapland and Norway to forgather there. But local Blocksburgs existed, or rather hills so called, especially in Pomerania, which boasted two oi three such crags. The sorcerers of Corrieres held their Sabbat at a deserted spot, turning off the highway near Combes ; the witches of la Mouille in a tumbledown house, which had once belonged to religious; the Gandillons and their coven, who were brought to justice in June, 1598, met at Fontenelles. a forsaken and haunted spot near the village of Nezar, Dr. Fian and his associates (1591) “ upon the night oi Allhollen-Even 55 assembled at the kirke of North-Berried in Lowthian.” Silvain Nevillon, who was executed al Orleans, 4 February, 1615, confessed ct que le Sabbat se tenoii dans vne maison, 55 and the full details he gave shows this to have been a large chateau, no doubt the home of some wealthy local magnate, where above two hundred persons could assemble. Isobel Young, Christian Grinton, and twe or three other witches entertained the Devil in Young's house in 1629. Alexander Hamilton, a Ci known warlock 5 executed at Edinburgh in 1630, confessed that “ the panne


THE SABBAT


115


took him one night to a den betwixt Niddrie and Edmiston, where the devill had trysted hir. 55 Helen Guthrie, a Forfar witch, and her coven frequented a churchyard, where they met a demon, and on another occasion they 44 went to Mary Rynd’s house, and sat doune together at the table . . . and made them selfes mirric, and the divell made much of them all ” (1661). The Lancashire witches often held their local Sabbat at Malking Tower. From the confession of the Swedish witches (1670) at Mohra and Elfdale they assembled at a spot called Blockula 44 scituated in a delicate large Meadow . * . The place or house they met at, had before it a Gate painted with divers colours ; In a huge large Room of this House, they said, there stood a very long Table, at which the Witches did sit down ; And that hard by this Room was another Chamber in which there were very lovely and delicate Beds. 5 ’ 14 Obviously a fine Swedish country house, perhaps belonging to a wealthy witch, and in the minds of the poorer members of the gang it presently became imagi¬ natively exaggerated and described.

Christian Stridtheckh De Sagis (XL) writes : 44 They have different rendezvous in different districts ; yet their meetings are generally held in wooded spots, or on mountains, or in caves, and any places which are far from the usual haunts of men. Mela, Book III, chapter 44, mentions Mount Atlas ; de Vaulx, a warlock executed at Staples in 1608, confessed that the witches of the Low Countries were wont most frequently to meet in some spot in the province of Utrecht, In our own country, the Mountain of the Bructeri, which some call Meliboeus, in the duchy of Bruns¬ wick, is known and notorious as the haunt of witches. In the common tongue this Mountain is called the Blocksberg or Ileweberg , Brockersburg or Vogelsberg , as Ortelius notes in his Thesaurus Geographicus . ?? 15 The day of the week whereon a Sabbat was held differed in the various districts and countries, although Friday seems to have been most gen¬ erally favoured. There is indeed an accumulation of evidence for every night of the week save Saturday and Sunday. Dc Lancre records that in the Basses-Pyr6n6es 44 their usual rendezvous is the spot known as Lane du Bouc, in the Basque tongue Aquelarre de verros, prado del Cabron , & there the Sorcerers assemble to worship their master on three particular


116 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

nights, Monday, Wednesday, Friday/ 316 Boguet says that the day of the Sabbat varied, but usually a Thursday night was pre¬ ferred. 17 In England it was stated that the “ Solemn appoint¬ ments, and meetings . .. are ordinarily on Tuesday or Wednes¬ day night/ 3 18 Saturday was, however, particularly avoided as being the day sacred to the immaculate Mother of God.

It is true that the hysterical and obscene ravings of Maria de Sains, a witness concerned in the trial of Louis Gaufridi and who was examined on 17-19 May, 1014, assert that the Sabbat used to be held on every day of the week. Wednesday and Friday were the Sabbats of blasphemy and the black ass. To the other days the most hideous abominations of which humanity is capable were allotted. The woman was obviously sexually deranged, affected with mania blas- phematoria and coprolalia.

Night was almost invariably the time for the Sabbat, although, as Delrio says, there is no actual reason why these evil rites should not be performed at noon, for the Psalmist speaks of “ the terror of the night/’ the “ business that walketh about in the dark,” and of 44 the noonday devil.” 19 (“ Non timebis a timore nocturno ... a negotio peram- bulante in tenebris ; ab incursu et daemonio meridiano.”) And so Delrio very aptly writes : tc Their assemblies generally are held at dead of night when the Powers of Darkness reign ; or, sometimes, at high noon, even as the Psalmist saith, when he speaks of 4 the noonday devil/ The nights they prefer are Monday and Thursday.” 20

The time at which these Sabbats began was generally upon the stroke of midnight. <£ Les Soreiers,” says Boguet, “ vont enuiron la minuict au Sabbat/’ 21 It may be remembered that in the Metamorphoseon of Apuleius, I, xi, the hags attack Socrates at night “ circa tertiam ferme uigiliam.” Agnes Sampson, t£ a famous witch ”—as Hume of Godscroft in his Account of Archibald, ninth Earl of Angus, calls her— commonly known as the wise wife of Keith, who made a prominent figure 22 in the Fian trials, 1590, confessed that the Devil met her, “ being alone, and commanded her to be at North-Berwick Kirk the next night,” and accordingly she made her way there as she was bid * c and lighted at the Kirk-yard, or a little before she came to it, about eleven hours at even/’ 23 In this case, however, the Sabbat was preceded


THE SABBAT 117

by a dance of nearly one hundred persons, and so probably did not commence until midnight. Thomas Leyis, Issobell Coky, Helen Fraser, Bessie Thom, and the rest of the Aberdeen witches, thirteen of whom were executed in 1597, and seven more banished, generally met tc betuixt tuell & ane houris at nycht. 3 324 Boguet notes that in 1598 the witch Fran§oise Secretain “adioustoit qu’elle alloit tousiours au Sabbat enuiron la minuit, & beaucoup d’aufcres sorciers, que i’ay eu en main, ont dit le mesme.” In 1600 Anna Mauczin of Tubingen confessed that she had taken part in witch gatherings which she dubbed Hochzeiten . They seem to have been held by a well just outside the upper gate of Rotenburg, and her evidence insists upon “ midnight dances ” and revelling. A Scotch witch, Marie Lament, “a young woman of the adge of Eighteen Yeares, dwelling in the parish of Innerkip 53 on 4 March, 1662, confessed most ingenuously 64 that when shee had been at a mietting sine Zowle last, with other witches, in the night, the devill convoyed her home in the dawmg.” 25

The Sabbat lasted till cock-crow, before which time none of the assembly was suffered to withdraw, and the advowal of Louis Gaufridi, executed at Aix, 1610, seems somewhat singular : 66 I was conveyed to the place where the Sabbat was to be held, and I remained there sometimes one, two, three, or four hours, for the most part just as I felt inclined. 3526 That the crowing of a cock dissolves enchantments is a tradition of extremest antiquity. The Jews believed that the clapping of a cock’s wings will make the power of demons ineffectual and break magic spells. So Prudentius sang : cc They say that the night-wandering demons, who rejoice in dunnest shades, at the crowing of the cock tremble and scatter in sore affright. 3 ’ 27 The rites of Satan ceased because the Holy Office of the Church began. In the time of S. Benedict Matins and Lauds were recited at dawn and were actually often known as Gallicinium , Cock-crow, In the exquisite poetry of S. Ambrose, which is chanted at Sunday Lauds, the praises of the cock are beautifully sung :

Light of our darksome journey here.

With days dividing night from night 1

Loud crows the dawn’s shrill harbinger,

And wakens up the sunbeams bright.


118 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Forthwith at this, the darkness chili Retreats before the star of mom ,*

And from their busy schemes of ill The vagrant crews of night return.

Fresh hope, at this, the sailor cheers ;

The waves their stormy strife allay;

The Church's Rock at this, in tears,

Hastens to wash his guilt away.

Arise ye, then, with one accord !

No longer wrapt in slumber lie;

The cock rebukes all who their Lord By sloth neglect, by sin deny.

At his clear cry joy springs afresh ;

Health courses through the sick man’s veins ;

The dagger glides into its sheath ;

The fallen soul her faith regains. 28

A witch named Latoma confessed to Nicolas Remy that cocks were most hateful to all sorcerers. That bird is the herald of dawn, he arouses men to the worship of God ; and many an odious sin which darkness shrouds will be revealed in the light of the coming day. At the hour of the Nativity, that most blessed time, the cocks crew all night long. A cock crew lustily at the Resurrection. Hence is the cock placed upon the steeple of churches. Pliny and iElian tell us that a lion fears the cock ; so the Devil “ leo mgiens 55 flees at cock-crow.

“ Le coq,” says De Lancre, “ s’oyt par fois es Sabbats sonnat la retraicte aux Sorciers .” 29

The witch resorted to the Sabbat in various manners. If it were a question of attending a local assembly when, at most, a mile or two had to be traversed, the company would go on foot. Very often the distance was even less, for it should be remembered that in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and indeed, as a matter of fact, up to a quite recent date, when the wayfarer had gone a few steps outside the gates of a town or beyond the last house in the village he was enfolded in darkness, entirely solitary, remote, eloined. If footmen with flambeaux, at least the humbler linkboy, were essential attendants after nightfall in the streets of the world’s great cities, London, Rome, Paris,


THE SABBAT


119


Madrid, 30 how black with shadows, dangerous, and utterly lonesome was the pathless countryside ! Not infrequently the witches of necessity carried lanterns to light them on their journey to the Sabbat. The learned Bartolomeo de Spina, O.P., 31 in his Tractatus de Slrigibus et Lamii$ (Venice, 1538), writes that a certain peasant, who lived at Clavica Malaguzzi, in the district of Mirandola, having occasion to rise very early one morning and drive to a neighbouring village, found himself at three o’clock, before daybreak, crossing a waste tract of considerable extent which lay between him and his destination. In the distance he suddenly caught sight of what seemed to be numerous fires flitting to and fro, and as he drew nearer he saw that these were none other than large lanthorns held by a bevy of persons who were moving here and there in the mazes of a fantastic dance, whilst others, as at a rustic picnic, were seated partaking of dainties and drinking stoups of wine, what time a harsh music, like the scream of a cornerause, droned through the air. Curiously no word was spoken, the company whirled and pirouetted, ate and drank, in strange and significant silence. Perceiving that many, unabashed, were giving them¬ selves up to the wildest debauchery and publicly performing the sexual act with every circumstance of indecency, the horrified onlooker realized that he was witnessing the revels of the Sabbat. Crossing himself fervently and uttering a prayer he drove as fast as possible from the accursed spot, not, however, before he had recognized some of the company as notorious evil-doers and persons living in the vicinity who were already under grave suspicion of sorcery. The witches must have remarked his presence, but they seem to have ignored him and not even to have attempted pursuit. In another instance Fra Paolo de Caspan, a Dominican of great reputation for piety and learning, reports that Antonio de Palavisini, the parish priest of Caspan in the Valtellina, a terri¬ tory infected with warlocks, most solemnly affirmed that when going before daybreak to say an early Mass at a shrine hard by the village he had seen through clearings in the wood an assembly of men and women furnished with lanterns, who were seated in a circle and whose actions left no doubt that they were witches engaged in abominable rites. In both the above cases the lanterns were not required in the cere-


120 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

monies of the Sabbat, and they must have been carried for the purely practical purpose of affording light.

Very often when going to a local Sabbat the coven of witches used to meet just beyond the village and make their way to the appointed spot in a body for mutual help and security. This is pointed out by Bernard of Como, a famous scholar, who says : 64 When they are to go to some spot hard by they proceed thither on foot cheerily conversing as they walk/ 532 The fact that the dark initiates walked to the Sabbat is frequently mentioned in the trials. Boguet, who is most exact in detail, writes : 4C Sorcerers, nevertheless, sometimes walk to the Sabbat, and this is generally the case when the spot where they are to assemble does not lie very far from their dwellings. 5533 And in the interrogatory, 17 May, 161G, of Barthelemi Minguet of Br^cy, a young fellow of twenty-five, accused with seventeen more, we have : 44 He was then asked in what place the Sabbat was held the last time he was present there.

46 He replied that it was in the direction of Billcron, at a cross-road which is on the high-road leading to Aix, in the Parish of Saint Soulange. He was asked how he proceeded thither. He replied that he walked to the place. 5534

When Catharine Oswald of Niddrie (1625) one night took Alexander Hamilton 44 a known warlock 5 5 4 4 to a den betwixt Niddrie and Edmiston, where the devill had trysted hir, 55 it is obvious that the couple walked there together.

On one occasion the truly subtle point was raised whether those who walked to the Sabbat were as guilty as those who were conveyed thither by the Devil. But De Lancre decides : 44 It is truly as criminal & abominable for a Sorcerer to go to the Sabbat on foot as to be voluntarily conveyed thither by the Devil. 5535

Major Weir and his sister seem to have gone to a meeting with the Devil in a coach and six horses when they thus drove from Edinburgh to Musselburgh and back again on 7 September, 1648. So the woman confessed in prison, and added 44 that she and her brother had made a compact with the devil. 5536

Agnes Sampson, the famous witch of North Berwick (1590), confessed 44 that the Devil in mans lickness met her going out to the fields from her own house at Keith , betwixt five


PLATE IV


OFF TO THE SABBAT Queverdo


f face p 120



THE SABBAT


121


and six at even, being alone and commanded lier to be at Nortk-berwick Kirk the next night. To which place she came oh horse-back, conveyed by her Good-son, called John Couper. 5537 The Swedish witches (1669) who carried children off to Blocknla 44 set them upon a Beast of the Devil's pro¬ viding, and then they rid away. 55 One boy confessed that 64 to perform the Journey, he took his own Fathers horse out of the Meadow, where it was feeding. 5538 Upon his return one of the coven let the horse graze in her own pasture, and here the boy’s father found it the next day.

In the popular imagination the witch is always associated with the broomstick, employed by her to fly in wild career through mid-air. This belief seems almost universal, of all times and climes. The broomstick, is, of course, closely connected with the magic wand or staff which was considered equally serviceable for purposes of equitation. The wood whence it was fashioned was often from the hazel-tree, witch-hazel, although in De Lancre’s day the sorcerers of Southern France favoured the 44 Souhandourra 55 —Cornus sanguinea , dog-wood. Mid hurricane and tempest, in the very heart of the dark storm, the convoy of witches, strad¬ dling their broomsticks, sped swiftly along to the Sabbat, their yells and hideous laughter sounding louder than the crash of elements and mingling in fearsome discord with the frantic pipe of the gale.

There is a very important reference to these beliefs from the pen of the famous and erudite Benedictine Abbot, Regino of Pram (a.d. 906), who in his weighty De ecclesiasticis disciplinis writes : 44 This too must by no means be passed over that certain utterly abandoned women, turning aside to follow Satan, being seduced by the illusions and phantas* mical shows of demons firmly believe and openly profess that in the dead of night they ride upon certain beasts along with the pagan goddess Diana and a countless horde of women, and that in those silent hours they fly over vast tracts of country and obey her as their mistress, whilst on certain other nights they are summoned to do her homage and pay her service.” 39 The witches rode sometimes upon a besom or a stick, sometimes upon an animal, and the excursion through the air was generally preceded by an unction with a magic ointment. Various recipes are given for the ointment*


122 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


and it is interesting to note that they contain deadly poisons : aconite, belladonna, and hemlock. 40 Although these unguents may in certain circumstances be capable of producing definite physiological results, it is Delrio who best sums up the reasons for their use : 64 The Demon is able to convey them to the Sabbat without the use of any unguent, and often he does so. But for several reasons he prefers that they should anoint themselves. Sometimes when the witches seem afraid it serves to encourage them. When they are young and tender they will thus be better able to bear the hateful embrace of Satan who has assumed the shape of a man. For by this horrid anointing he dulls their senses and persuades these deluded wretches that there is some great virtue in the viscid lubricant. Sometimes too he does this in hateful mockery of God’s holy Sacraments, and that by these mysterious ceremonies he may infuse, as it were, something of a ritual and liturgical nature into his beastly orgies.” 41

Although the witch is universally credited with the power to fly through the air 42 to the Sabbat mounted upon a besom or some kind of stick, it is remarkable in the face of popular belief to find that the confessions avowing this actual mode of aerial transport are extraordinarily few. Paul Grilland, in his tractate De Sortilegiis (Lyons, 1588), speaks of a witch at Rome during whose trial, seven years before, it was asserted she flew in the air after she had anointed her limbs with a magic liniment. Perhaps the most exactly detailed accounts of this feat are to be found in Boguet, 43 than whom scarcely any writer more meticulously reports the lengthy and prolix evidence of witches, such evidence as he so laboriously gathered during the notorious prosecutions throughout Franche-Comt^ in the summer of 1598. He records quite plainly such statements as: 44 Frangoise

Seeretain disoit, que pour aller au Sabbat, elle mettoit un baston blanc entre ses iambes & puis pronongait certaines paroles & d6s lors elle estoit porfcee par Fair iusques en Passemble des Sorciers.” (Frangoise Seeretain avowed that in order to go to the Sabbat she placed a white stick between her legs & then uttered certain words & then she was borne through the air to the sorcerers 5 assembly). In another place she confessed 44 qu’elle avoit est& vne infinite de fois au Sabbat , v . & qu’elle y alloit sur vn baston blanc, qu’elle


THE SABBAT


123


mettoit entre ses iambes. 33 (That she had been a great number of times to the Sabbat . . . and that she went there on a white stick which she placed between her legs.) It will be noticed that in the second instance she does not explicitly claim to have been borne through the air. Again : 44 Fran- 9 oise Secretain y estoit portee [an Sabbat] sur vn baston blanc. Satan y tr&sporta Thieuenne Paget & Antide Colas estant en forme d’vn homme noir, sortans de leurs maison le plus souuent par la chemin<£e. 33 46 Claudine Boban, ieune fille confessa qu’elle & sa m&re montoient sur vne ramasse, & que sortans le contremont de la cheminde elles alloient par Fair en ceste fa$on au Sabbat. 35 (Fran^oise Secretain was carried [to the Sabbat] on a white stick. Satan, in the form of a tall dark man conveyed thither Thieuenne Paget & Antide Colas, who most often left their house by way of the chimney. . . . Claudine Boban, a young girl, confessed that both she and her mother mounted on a besom, & that flying out by the chimney they were thus borne through the air to the Sabbat.) A marginal note explains ramasse as 44 autre- ment balai, & en Lyonnois coiue.”

Glanvill writes that Julian Cox, one of the Somerset coven (1665), said 44 that one evening she walkt out about a Mile from her own House and there came riding towards her three persons upon three Broom-staves, bom up about a yard and a half from the ground. Two of them she formerly knew, which was a Witch and a Wizzard. 33 It might easily be that there is some exaggeration here. We know that a figure in one of the witch dances consisted of leaping as high as possible into the air, and probably the three persons seen by Julian Cox were practising this agile step. A quotation from Bodin by Reginald Scot is very pertinent in this connexion. Speak¬ ing of the Sabbat revels he has : 44 And whiles they sing and dance, euerie one hath a broome in his hand, and holdeth It vp aloft. Item he saith, that these night-walking or rather night-dansing witches, brought out of Italie into France , that danse which is called La Volta.”* 4 * Sir John Davies in his Orchestra or A Poeme on Dauncing (18mo, 1596) describes the lavolta as 44 A loftie iumping, or a leaping round. 33 De Lancre observes that after the regular country dance at the Sabbat the witches sprang high into the air. 44 Apr&s la dance ils se mettent par fois k sauter. 3345 At their assembly


124 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

certain of the Aberdeen witches (1597) “ danced a devilish dance, riding on trees, by a long space. 35 In an old repre¬ sentation of Dr. Fian and his company swiftly pacing round North Berwick church wiihershins the witches are repre¬ sented as running and leaping in the air, some mounted on broomsticks, some carrying their besoms m their hands.

There was discovered in the closet of Dame Alice Kyteler of Kilkenny, who was arrested in 1324 upon the accusation of nightly meeting a familiar Artisson and multiplied charges of sorcery, a pipe of ointment, wherewith she greased a staff “ upon which she ambolled and gallopped thorough thicke and thin, when and what manner she listed.” 46 In the trial of Martha Carrier, a notorious witch and “rampant hag” at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, held by adjournment at Salem, 2 August, 1692, the eighth article of the indictment ran : 66 One Foster , who confessed her own share in the Witchcraft for which the Prisoner stood indicted, affirm’d, that she had seen the prisoner at some of their Witch- meetings, and that it was this Carrier , who perswaded her to be a Witch. She confessed that the Devil carry’d them on a pole, to a Witch-meeting: but the pole broke, and she hanging about Carriers neck, they both fell down, and she then received an hurt by the Fall, whereof she was not at this very time recovered.” 47

In many of these instances it Is plain that there is no actual flight through the air implied; although there is a riding a-cock-horse of brooms or sticks, in fact, a piece of symbolic ritual.

It is very pertinent, however, to notice in this connexion the actual levitation of human beings, which is, although perhaps an unusual, yet by no means an unknown, phenomenon in the stances of modern spiritism, where both the levitation of persons, with which we are solely concerned, and the rising of tables or chairs off the ground without contact with any individual or by any human agency have occurred again and again under conditions which cannot possibly admit of legerdemain, illusion, or charlatanry. From a mass of irrefutable evidence we may select some striking words by Sir William Crookes, F.R.S., upon levitation. “ This has occurred,” he writes, “in my presence on four occasions in darkness; but ... I will only mention cases in which deduc-


THE SABBAT


125


tions of reason were confirmed by the sense of sight, . . . On one occasion I witnessed a chair, with a lady sitting on it, rise several inches from the ground. . . . On another occasion the lady knelt on the chair in such manner that the four feet were visible to us. It then rose about three inches, remained suspended for about ten seconds, and then slowly descended. . . .

“ The most striking case of levitation which I have wit¬ nessed has been with Mr. Home. On three separate occasions have I seen him raised completely from the floor of the room. . . . On each occasion I had full opportunity of watching the occurrence as it was taking place. There arc at least a hundred recorded instances of Mr, Home’s rising from the ground.” 48

Writing in July, 1871, Lord Lindsay said : “ 1 was sitting with Mr. Home and Lord Ad arc and a cousin of his. During the sitting Mr. Home went into a trance, and in that state was carried out of the window in the room next to where we were, and was brought in at our window. The distance between the windows was about seven feet six inches, and there was not the slightest foothold between them, nor was there more than a twelve-inch projection to each window, which served as a ledge to put flowers on. We heard the window in the next room lifted up, and almost immediately after we saw Home floating m air outside our window.” 49

William Stainton Moses writes of his levitation in August, 1872, in the presence of credible witnesses : “ I -was carried up . . , when I became stationary I made a mark [with a lead pencil] on the wall opposite to my chest. This mark is as near as may be six feet from the floor. . . . From the position of the mark on the wall it is clear that my head must have been close to the ceiling, ... I was simply levitated and lowered to my old place.” 50

When we turn to the lives of the Saints we find that these manifestations have been frequently observed, and it will suffice to mention but a few from innumerable examples.

S. Francis of Assisi was often “ suspended above the earth, sometimes to a height of three, sometimes to a height of four cubits ”; the same phenomenon has been recorded by eye-witnesses in many instances throughout the centuries. Among the large number of those who are known to have


126 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

been raised from the ground whilst wrapt in prayer are the stigmatized S. Catherine of Siena ; S. Colette ; Rainiero de Bor go San-Sepolcro ; S. Catherine de Ricci; S. Alphoxisus Rodriguez, S.J. ; S. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi ; Raimond Rocco ; Bl. Charles de Sezze ; S. Veronica Giuliani the Capuchiness ; S. Gerard Majella, the Rcdemptorist thau¬ maturge ; that wondrous mystic Anne Catherine Emmerich ; Dominica Barbagli (died in 1858), the ecstatica of Monte- santo-Savino (Florence), whose levitations were of daily occurrence. S. Ignatius Loyola whilst deeply contemplative was seen by John Pascal to be raised more than a foot from the pavement; S. Teresa and S. John of the Cross were levitated in concurrent ecstasies in the shady locutorio of the Encarnacion, as was witnessed by Beatriz of Jesus and the whole convent of nuns; 51 S. Alphonsus Liguori whilst preaching in the church of S. John Baptist at Foggia was lifted before the eyes of the whole congregation several feet from the ground; 52 Gemma Galgani of Lucca, who died 11 April, 1908, was observed whilst praying one evening in September, 1901, before a venerated Crucifix, to rise in the air in a celestial trance and to remain several minutes at some distance from the floor. 63 Above all, S. Joseph of Cupertino (1608-03), one of the most extraordinary mystics of the seventeenth century, whose whole life seemed one long series of unbroken raptures and ecstasies, was frequently lifted on high to remain suspended in mid-air. Such notice was attracted by this marvel that his superiors sent him from one lonely house of Capuchins or Conventuals to another, and he died at the little hill town of Osimo, where his remains are yet venerated. For many years he was obliged to say Mass at a private altar so inevitable were the ecstasies that fell upon him during the Sacrifice. There are, I think, few sanctuaries more sweet and more fragrant with holiness than this convent at Osimo. During a most happy visit to the shrine of S. Joseph I was deeply touched by the many memorials of the Saints, and by the kindness of the Fathers, his brethren to-day. S. Philip Neri and S, Francis Xavier were frequently raised from the ground at the Elevation, and of the ascetic S. Paul of the Cross the Blessed Strambi writes : “ Le serviteur de Dieu s’<fleva en Fair 4 la hauteur de deux palmes, et cela, 4 deux reprises, avant ct apr6s la


THE SABBAT


127


consecration." 54 (The servant of God during Holy Mass was twice elevated in the air to a height of two hand-breadths from the ground both before and after the Consecration.) It is well known that in a certain London church a holy religious when he said Mass -was not unseldom levitated from the predella, which manifestation I have myself wit¬ nessed, although the father was himself unconscious thereof until the day of his death.

But, as Gorres most aptly remarks, 55 although many examples may be cited of Saints w r ho have been levitated in ecstasy, and although it is not impossible that this phenomenon may be imitated by evil powers—as, indeed, it undoubtedly is in the cases of spiritistic mediums—yet nowhere do we find in hagiography that a large number of Saints were in one company raised from the earth together or conveyed through the air to meet at some appointed spot. Is it likely, then, that the demons would be allowed seem¬ ingly to excel by their power a most extraordinary and exceptional manifestation ? It must be remembered, also, that save in very rare and singular instances, such as that of S. Joseph of Cupertino, levitation is only for a height of a foot or some eighteen inches, and even this occurs seldom save at moments of great solemnity and psychic con¬ centration.

A question which is largely discussed by the demonologists then arises ; Do the witches actually and in person attend the Sabbat or is their journey thither and assistance thereat mere diabolic illusion ? Giovanni Francesco Ponzinibio, in his Be Lamiis , 66 wholly inclines to the latter view, but this is superficial reasoning, and the celebrated canonist Francisco Pena with justice takes him very severely to task for his temerity. Pena’s profound work, In Bernardi Comensis Dominicani Lncernam inquisitorum nolw et eiusdem traclatum de strigibus , 57 a valuable collection of most erudite glosses, entirely disposes of Ponzinibio’s arguments, and puts the case in words of weighty authority.

Sprenger in the Malleus Maleficarum , I, had already con¬ sidered “ How witches are bodily transported from one place to another," and he concludes u It is proven, then, that sorcerers can be bodily transported." 68 Paul Grilland inquires; * 6 Whether magicians & witches or Satanists are


128 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

bodily & actually conveyed to and fro by the Devil, or whether this be merely imaginary ? ” He freely acknow¬ ledges the extraordinary difficulty and intricacy of the investigation, beginning his answer with the phrase “ Quaestio ista est multum ardua et famosa.” 59 (This is a very difficult and oft-discussed question.) But S. Augustine, S. Thomas, S. Bona venture, and a score of great names are agreed upon the reality of this locomotion, and Grilland, after balancing the evidence to the nicety of a hair wisely concludes : tc My¬ self I hold the opinion that they are actually transported.” 60

In his Compendium Maleficarum Francesco Maria Guazzo discusses (Liber I. IS) “ Whether Witches are actually and bodily conveyed from place to place to attend their Sabbats 55 ; and lays down : “ The opinion which many who follow

Luther & Meiancthon hold is that Witches only assist at these assemblies in their imagination, & that they arc choused by some trick of the devil, in support of which argument the objectors assert that the Witches have very often been seen lying in one spot and not moving thence. Moreover, what is related in the life of S. Germain is not impertinent in this connexion, to wit, when certain women declared that they had been present at a banquet, & yet all the while they slumbered and slept, as several persons attested. That women of this kind are very often deceived in such a way is certain ; but that they arc always so deceived is by no means sure. . . . The alternative opinion, which personally I hold most strongly, is that sometimes at any rate Witches are actually conveyed from one place to another by the Devil, who under the bodily form of a goat or some other unclean & monstrous animal himself carries them, & that they are verily and indeed present at their foul midnight Sabbats. This opinion is that generally held by the authori¬ tative Theologians and Master Jurisprudists of Italy and Spain, as also by the Catholic divines and legalists. The majority of writers, indeed, advance this view, for example, Torquemada in his commentary on Grilland, Remy, S. Peter Damian, Silvester of Abula, Tommaso dc Vio Gaetani, Alfonso de Castro, Sisto da Siena, O.P., Pfere Crcspet, Barto¬ lomeo Spina in his glosses on Ponzinibio, Lorenzo Anania, and a vast number of others, whose names for brevity’s sake I here omit.” 61


THE SABBAT


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This seems admirably to sum up the whole matter. In the encyclopaedic treatise De Strigibus %% by an earlier au¬ thority, Bernard of Como, the following remarkable passage occurs: The aforesaid abominable wretches actually &

awake & in full enjoyment of their normal senses attend these assemblies or rather orgies, and when they are to go to some spot hard by they proceed thither on foot, cheerily conversing as they walk. If, however, they are to meet in some distant place then are they conveyed by the Devil, yet by -whatsoever means they proceed to the said place whether it be on foot or whether they are borne along by the Devil, it is most certain that their journey is real and actual, and not imaginary. Nor are they labouring under any delusion when they deny the Catholic Faith, worship and adore the Devil, tread upon the Cross of Christ, outrage the Most Blessed Sacrament, and give themselves up to filthy and unhallowed copulations, fornicating with the Devil himself who appears to them in a human form, being used by the men as a succubus, & carnally serving the woman as an incubus. 5 ’ 03

The conclusion, then is plain and proven. The witches do actually and individually attend the Sabbat, an orgy of blasphemy and obscenity. Whether they go thither on foot, or horseback, or by some other means is a detail, which in point of fact differs according to the several and infinitely varied circumstances.

It is not denied that in some eases hallucination and self-deception played'a large part, but such examples are comparatively speaking few in number, and these, moreover, were carefully investigated and most frequently recognized by the judges and divines. Thus in the Malleus Maleficarum Sprenger relates that a woman, who had voluntarily sur¬ rendered herself to be examined as being a witch, confessed to the Dominican fathers that she nightly assisted at the Sabbat, and that neither bolts nor bars could prevent her from flying to the infernal revels. Accordingly she was shut fast under lock and key in a chamber whence it was impossible for her to escape, and all the while carefully watched by lynx-eyed officers through a secret soupirail. These reported that immediately the door was closed she threw herself on the bed where in a moment she was stretched out perfectly rigid in all her members. Select members of the tribunal,

K


180 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


grave and acute doctors, entered the room. They shook her, gently at first, but presently with considerable roughness. She remained immobile and insensible. She was pinched and pulled sharply. At last a lighted candle was brought and placed near her naked foot until the flesh was actually scorched in the flame. She lay stockish and still, dumb and motionless as a stone. After a while her senses returned to her. She sat up and related in exact detail the happenings at the Sabbat she had attended, the place, the number of the company, the rites, what was spoken, all that was done, and then she complained of a hurt upon her foot. Next day the fathers explained to her all that had passed, how that she had never stirred from the spot, and that the pain arose from the taper which to ensure the experiment had been brought in contact with her flesh. They admonished her straightly but with paternal charity, and upon the humble confession of her error and a promise to guard against any such ill fantasies for the future, a suitable penance was prescribed and the woman dismissed.

In the celebrated cases investigated by Henri Boguet, June, 1598, young George Gandillon confessed to having walked to the Sabbat at a deserted spot called Fontenelles, near the village of Nezar, and also to having ridden to the Sabbat. Moreover, in his indictment the following occurs : “ George Gandillon, one Good Friday night, lay in his bed, rigid as a corpse, for the space of three hours, & then on a sudden came to himself. He has since been burned alive here with his father & his sister.” 64

Since Boguet, who is one of our chief authorities, discusses the Sabbat with most copious details in his Discours des Sorders it will not be impertinent to give here the head¬ ings and subdivisions of his learned and amply docu¬ mented chapters. 66

Chapter XVI. How, & in what way Sorcerers are conveyed to the Sabbat.

1. They are sometimes conveyed there mounted on a stick,

or a broom, sometimes on a sheep or a goat, & some¬ times by a tall black man .

2. Sometimes they anoint themselves with ointment , & some¬

times not


THE SABBAT


131


3. There are some people , who although they are not Sor¬

cerers* if they are anointed* are none the less carried off to the Sabbat The reason for this .

4. The unguent* & the ointment are actually of no use to the

Sorcerers* and do not in effect carry them to the Sabbat .

5. Sorcerers are sometimes conveyed to the Sabbat by a blast

of wind de a sudden storm.

Chapter XVII. Sorcerers may sometimes walk to the Sabbat on foot.

Chapter XVIII. Is the journey of Sorcerers to the Sabbat merely imagination ?

1 & 3. Reasons for supposing this to be the case* & examples .

2. Indications* owing to which it may be supposed , that a certain woman paid a purely imaginary visit to the Sabbat .

4. Reasons for supposing that the journey of Sorcerers to

the Sabbat* is a real expedition and not imaginary .

5. How we are to understand what is related concerning

Erichtho* dk Apollonius ; the first of whom raised a soldier to life, <& the latter a young girl .

6. Sorcerers cannot raise the dead to life , Examples.

7. Neither can heretics perform miracles . Examples .

8. The Author's opinion concerning the subject of this

chapter .

9. Satan most frequently deceives mankind . Examples . Chapter XIX.

1. Sorcerers go to the Sabbat about midnight .

2. The reason why the Sabbat is generally held at night .

8. Satan delights in darkness db blackness* which are opposite to the whiteness and light that please Heaven .

4. Sabbat Sorcerers dance hack to back . .For the most

part they wear masks .

5 & 8. IVAm the cock crows the Sabbat immediately conies to an end* and vanishes away * TA# reason for this *

0, T &0 rnVte o/ cock frightens Satan in the same way as

it terrifies lions db serpents .

7. Several authors relate that demons fear a naked sword .


132 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Chapter XX. The days on which the Sabbat is held.

1. The Sabbat may be held on any day of the week, but

particularly on a Friday.

2. It is also held on the greatest festivals of the year. Chapter XXI. The places where the Sabbat is held.

1. According to many writers the place where the Sabbat is

held is distinguished by a clump of trees 9 or sometimes by a cross . The Author's opinion on this point.

2. A remarkable account of a place where the Sabbat was

held .

3. There must be water near the place where the Sabbat is

held. The reason for this .

4. If there is no water in the place , the Sorcerers dig a hole

in the ground and urinate in this.

Chapter XXII. The proceedings at the Sabbat.

1. The Sorcerers worship the Devil who appears under the

form of a tall black man , or as a goat. They offer him candles S kiss his posterior .

2. They dance. A description of their dances .

3. They give themselves up to every kind of filthy abomina¬

tion. The Devil transforms himself into fm Incubus S into a Succubus.

4. The hideous orgies & foul copulations practised by the

Euchites, S Gnostics.

5. The Sorcerers feast at the Sabbat. Their meat & their

drink . The way in which they say grace before and after table .

6. However , this food never satisfies their appetites 9 & they

always arise from table as hungry as before .

7. When they have finished their meal 9 they give the Devil

a full account of all their actions.

8. They again renounce God , their baptism , Sc. How Satan

incites them to do evil.

9. They raise dark storms .

10. They celebrate their mass. Of their vestments , S holy

water.

11. Sometimes to conclude" the Sabbat Satan seems to be

consumed in a flame of fire 9 & to be completely reduced


THE SABBAT 133

to ashes . All present take a small part of these ashes , which the Sorcerers use for their charms .

12. tfatan is always the Ape of God in everything .

As the procedure in the various Sabbats differed very greatly according to century, decade, country, district, nay, even in view of the station of life and, it would seem, the very temperaments of the assembly, it is only possible to outline in a general way some of the most remarkable ceremonies which took place on the occasions of these infernal congregations. An intimate and intensive study of the Sabbat would require a large volume, for it is quite possible to reconstruct the rites in every particular, although the precise order of the ritual was not always and everywhere the same.

Dom Calmet, it is true, has very mistakenly said : cc To attempt to give a description of the Sabbat, is to attempt a description of what docs not exist, & what has never existed save in the fantastic & disordered imagination of warlocks & witches : the pictures which have been drawn of these assemblies are merely the phantasy of those who dreamed that they had actually been borne, body & soul, through the air to the Sabbat, 55 66 Happy sceptic ! But unfortunately the Sabbat did—and does—take place ; formerly in deserted wastes, on the hill-side, in secluded spots, now, as often as not, in the privacy of vaults and cellars, and in those lone empty houses innocently placarded C£ To be Sold. 55

The President of the Sabbat was in purely local gatherings often the Officer of the district; in the more solemn assem¬ blies convened from a wider area, the Grand Master, whose dignity would be proportionate to the numbers of the com¬ pany and the extent of his province. In any case the President was officially known as the “ Devil, 55 and it would seem that his immediate attendants and satellites were also somewhat loosely termed 66 devils, 55 which formal nomenclature has given rise to considerable confusion and not a little mystifi¬ cation in the reports of witch trials and the confessions of offenders. But in many instances it is certain—and ortho¬ doxy forbids us to doubt the possibility—that the Principle of Evil, incarnate, was present for the hideous adoration of his besotted worshippers. Such is the sense of the Fathers,


184 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


such is the conclusion of the theologians who have dealt with these dark abominations. Metaphysically it is possible ; historically it is indisputable.

When a human being, a man, occupied the chief position at these meetings and directed the performance of the rites, he would sometimes appear in a hideous and grotesque disguise, sometimes without any attempt at concealment. This masquerade generally took the shape of an animal, and had its origin in heathendom, whence by an easy transition through the ceremonial of heretics, it passed to the sorcerer and the witch. As early as the Liber Pcenitentialis of S. Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, 668-690, we have a distinct prohibition of this foul mummery. Capitulum xxvii denounces the man who “ in Kalendas lanuarii in ceruulo et in uitula uadit.” C£ If anyone at the kalends of January goes about as a stag or a bull; that is making himself into a wild animal and dressing in the skin of a herd animal, and putting on the head of beasts ; those who in such wise transform themselves into the appearance of a wild animal, penance for three years because this is devilish. 9 ’

Among the many animal forms which the leader of the Sabbat (the “ Devil”) assumed in masquerade the most common are the bull, the cat, and above all the goat. Thus the Basque term for the Sabbat is “ Akhclarre,” 66 goat pasture.” Sometimes the leader is simply said to have shown himself in the shape of a beast, which possibly points to the traditional disguise of a black hairy skin, horns, hoofs, claws, and a tail, in fact the same dress as a demon wore upon the stage. 67 In an old German ballad, Druten Zeitung , printed at Smalcald in 1627, “to be sung to the tune of Dorothea ” it is said that the judges, anxious to extort a confession from a witch, sent down into her twilight dungeon the common hangman dressed in a bear’s skin with horns, hoofs, and tail complete. The miserable prisoner thinking that Lucifer had indeed visited her at once appealed to him for help :

Man shickt cin Henkersnecht Zu ihr in Gcfangniss n’untcr,

Den man hat kleidet rceht,

Mit einer Barnhaute,

Als wenns der Teufel war ;

Als ihm die Drut anschautc Meints ihr Buhl kam daher.


THE SABBAT


185


Here we have a curious and perhaps unique example of the demoniac masquerade subtly used to obtain evidence of guilt by a trick. The Aberdeen witch Jonet Lucas (1597) said that the Devil was at the Sabbat 46 beand in likenes of ane beist/ 5 But Agnes Wobster of the same company declared that 66 Satan apperitto them in the likenes of a ealff,” so possibly two masquerades were employed. Gabriel Pelle (1608) confessed that he attended a Sabbat presided over by the Devil, and 46 le Diable estoit en vache noire/ 568 Fran$oise Secretain, who was tried in August, 1598, saw the Devil 44 tantost en forme de chat/ 5 Rolande de Vernois acknow¬ ledged 44 Le Diable se presenta pour lors am Sabbat en forme dVn groz chat noir/ 569 To the goat there are innumerable allusions. In the Basses-Pyrenees (1609) : 44 Le Diable estoit en forme de bouc ayant vne queue & audessous vn visage d’homme noir/ 5 (The Devil appeared in the form of a goat having a tail & his fundament was the face of a black man.) lohannis d’Aguerre said that the Devil was 44 en forme de bouc/ 570 44 Marie d’Aguerre said that there was in the midst of the ring an immense pitcher whence the Devil issued in the form of a goat/ 5 Gentien le Clere, who was tried at Orleans in 1614, 44 said that, as he was told, his mother when he was three years old presented him at the Sabbat to a goat whom they saluted as PAspic/’ 71 44 Sur le tr6ne, 55 writes

Gorres, 44 est assis un bouc, on du moins la forme d 5 un bouc, car le d6mon ne peut cacher ce qu’il est/ 572

In 1680 Elizabeth Stevenson, alias Toppock, of Niddrie, avowed to her judges that in company with Catharine Oswald, who was tried for being by kabite and repute a witch, and Alexander Hamilton, 44 a known warlock, 55 she went 44 to a den betwixt Niddrie and Edmiston, where the devill had trysted hir, where he appeared first to them like a foall, and then like a man, and appointed a new dyet at Salcott Muire/ 5 When one of Catharine Oswald’s intimates, Alex¬ ander Hunter, alias Hamilton, alias Ilattaraick, a 44 Warlok Cairle 55 who 44 abused the Countrey for a long time, 5 5 73 was apprehended at Dunbar he confessed that the Devil would meet him riding upon a black horse, or in the shape of a corbie , a cat, or a dog. He was burned upon Castle Hill, Edinburgh, 1681.

Sometimes those who are present at the Sabbat are


136 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


masked. Canon Ribet writes: “Les visiteurs du sabbat se cachent quelquefois sous des formes bestiales, on se couvrent le visage d’un masque pour demeurer inconnus.” 74 (Those who attend the Sabbat sometimes disguise themselves as beasts, or cover their faces to conceal their identities.)

At the famous Sabbat of one hundred and forty witches in North Berwick churchyard on All Hallow e’en, 1590, when they danced “ endlong the Kirk-yard ” “ John Fian, mis- sellit [masked] led the ring.” The Salamanca doctors mention the appearance at the Sabbats of persons cc aut aperta, aut iinteo uelata facie,” 75 “with their faces sometimes bare, sometimes shrouded in a linen wimple.” And Dclrio has in reference to this precaution : “ Facie interdum aperta, inter- dum uelata larua, Iinteo, uel alio uclamine aut persona.” 76 (Sometimes their faces are bare, sometimes hidden, cither in a vizard, a linen cloth, or a veil, or a mask.)

In the latter half of the eighteenth century the territory of Limburg was terrorized by a mysterious society known as “ The Goats.” These wretches met at night in a secret chapel, and after the most hideous orgies, which included the paying of divine honours to" Satan and other foul blas¬ phemies of the Sabbat, they donned masks fashioned to imitate goats’ heads, cloaked themselves with long disguise mantles, and sallied forth in bands to plunder and destroy. From 1772 to 1774 alone the tribunal of Foquemont con¬ demned four hundred Goats to the gallows. But the organi¬ zation was not wholly exterminated until about the year 1780 after a regime of the most repressive measures and unrelaxing vigilance.

Among certain tribes inhabiting the regions of the Congo there exists a secret association of Egbo worshippers. Egbo or Ekpe is the evil genius or Satan. His rites are Obeeyahism, the adoration of Obi, or the Devil, and devil-worship is practised by many barbarous races, as, for instance, by the Coroados and the Tupayas, in the impenetrable forests between the rivers Prado and Doce in Brazil, by the Abipones of Paraguay, as well as by the Bachapins, a Caffre race, by the negroes on the Gold Coast and the negroes of the West Indies. In the ju-ju houses of the Egbo sorcerers are obscene wooden statues to which great veneration is paid, since by their means divination is solemnly practised. Certain


THE SABBAT


137


festivals are held during the year, and at these it is interesting to note that the members wear hideous black masks with huge horns which it is death for the uninitiated to see.

The first ceremony of the Sabbat was the worship of, and the paying homage to the Devil. It would seem that some¬ times this was preceded by a roll-call of the evil devotees. Agnes Sampson confessed that at the meeting in North Berwick, when the whole assembly had entered the church, 44 The Devil started up himself in the Pulpit like a mickle black man, and calling the Row, every one answered Here . Mr. Robert Grierson being named, they all ran Mr die girdie , and were angry : for it was promised he should be called Robert the Comptroller , alias Rob the Rower , for expriming of his name. The first thing he demanded was whether they had been good servants, and what they had done since the last time they had convened. 59

The witches adored Satan, or the Master of the Sabbat who presided in place of Satan, by prostrations, genuflections, gestures, and obeisances. In mockery of solemn bows and seemly courtesies the worshippers of the Demon approach him awkwardly, with grotesque and obscene mops and mows, sometimes straddling sideways, sometimes walking back¬ wards, as Guazzo says : Cum accedimt ad daianones eos ueneraturi terga obuertunt & cessim cum canerorum more supplicaturi manus inuersas retro applicant. 77 But their chief act of homage was the reverential kiss, osmium infame . This impious and lewd ritual is mentioned in detail by most authorities and is to be found in all lands and centuries. So Delrio writes : 44 The Sabbat is presided over by a Demon, the Lord of the Sabbat, who appears in some monstrous form, most generally as a goat or some hound of hell, seated upon a haughty throne. The witches who resort to the Sabbat approach the throne with their backs turned, and worship him . . . and then, as a sign of their homage, they kiss his fundament. 95 Guazzo notes ; 44 As a sign of homage witches kiss the Devil’s fundament." And Ludwig Elich says : 44 Then as a token of their homage—with reverence be it spoken—they kiss the fundament of the Devil." 78 44 Y al tiempo que le besan debajo de la cola, da una vento- sidad de muy horrible olor," adds the Spanish Relation, 44 fetid, foul, and filthy."


138 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


To cite other authorities would be but to quote the same words. Thomas Cooper, indeed, seems to regard this cere¬ mony as a part of the rite of admission, but to confine it to this occasion alone is manifestly incorrect, for there is continual record of its observance at frequent Sabbats by witches of many years standing, a Secondly,” he remarks, “ when this acknowledgement is made, in testimonial! of this subiection, Satan offers his back-parts to be kissed of his vassall.” 79 But in the dittay of the North Berwick witches, all of whom had long been notorious for their malpractices, “ Item , the said Agnis Sampson confessed that the divell being then at North Barrick Kerke, attending their comming, in the habit or likenesse of a man, 80 and seeing that they tarried over long, hee at their comming enjoyned them all to a pennance, which was, that they should kisse his buttockes, in sign of duety to him, which being put over the pulpit bare, every one did as he had enjoyned them.” 81

One of the principal charges which was repeatedly brought against the Knights Templars during the lengthy ecclesi¬ astical and judicial processes, 1307-1314, was that of the osculum infame given by the juniors to their preceptors. Even so prejudiced a writer as Lea cannot but admit the truth of this accusation. In this case, however, it has nothing to do with sorcery but must be connected with the homo¬ sexuality which the Order universally practised.

There are some very important details rehearsed in a Bull, 8 June, 1303, of the noble but calumniated Boniface VIII, with reference to the case of Walter Langton, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (1290-1822), and treasurer of Edward I, when this prelate was accused of sorcery and homage to Satan : “ For some time past it has come to our ears that our Venerable Brother Walter Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield has been commonly defamed, and accused, both in the realm of England and elsewhere, of paying homage to the Devil by kissing his posterior, and that he hath had frequent colloquies with evil spirits.” 82 The Bishop cleared himself of these charges with the compurgators, Bodin refers to Guillaume Edeline, who was executed in 1458 as a wizard. He was a doctor of the Sorbonne, and prior of St. Germain en Laye; cc The aforesaid sire Guillaume


THE SABBAT


139


confessed . . . that he had done homage to the aforesaid Satan, who appeared in the shape of a ram, by kissing his buttocks in token of reverence and homage. M 83 A very rare tract of the fourteenth century directed against the Waldenses among other charges brings the following : cc Item, in ali- quibus aliis partibus apparet eis daemon sub specie et figura cati, quem sub cauda sigillatim oseulantur. 55 (The Devil appears to them as a cat, and they kiss him sub cauda.) 84i

Barthelemy Minguet of Breey, a young man of twenty-five, who was tried in 1616, said that at the Sabbat “ he often saw [the Devil] in the shape of a man, who held a horse by its bridle, & that they went forward to worship him, each one holding a pitch candle of black wax in their hands. 5585 These candles, as Guazzo tells us, were symbolic and required by the ritual of the Sabbat, not merely of use for the purpose of giving light : fi< Then they made an offering of pitch black candles, and as a sign of homage kissed his fundament. 5 5 80 The candles were ordinarily black, and one taper, larger than the rest, was frequently carried by the Devil himself. At the North Berwick meeting when the witches were all to assemble in the church, “ lohn Fein blew up the Kirk doors, and blew in the lights, which wer like Mickl black candles sticking round about the Pulpit 5587 Boguet relates that the witches whom he tried confessed that the Sabbat commenced with the adoration of Satan, ct who appeared, sometimes in the shape of a tall dark man, sometimes in the shape of a goat, & to express their worship and homage, they made him an offering of candles, which burned with a blue light. 5 ’ 88 John Fian, also, when doing homage to the Devil “ thought he saw the light of a candle . . . which appeared blue lowe.” This, of course, was on account of the sulphurous material whence these candles were specially compounded. De Lancre expressly states that the candles or flambeaux used at the Sabbat were made of pitch.

An important feature of the greater Sabbats was the ritual dance, for the dance was an act of devotion which has descended to us from the earliest times and is to be found in every age and every country. Dancing is a natural move¬ ment, a primitive expression of emotion and ideals. In the ancient world there can have been few things fairer than that rhythmic thanksgiving of supple limbs and sweet voices


140 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


which Athens loved, and for many a century was preserved the memory of that day when the young Sophocles lead the choir in celebration of the victory of Salamis. 89 The Mystse in the meadows of Elysium danced their rounds with the silver clash of cymbals and with madly twinkling snow-white feet. At the solemn procession of the Ark from Cariathiarim (Kirjath Jearim) King David “ danced with all his might before the Lord, . . . dancing and leaping before the Lord.” S. Basil urges his disciples to dance on earth in order to fit themselves for what may be one of the occupations of the angels in heaven. As late as the seventeenth century the ceremonial dance in church was not uncommon. In 1083 it was the duty of the senior canon to lead a dance of choir-boys in the Paris cathedral. Among the Abyssinian Christians dancing forms no inconsiderable part of worship. Year by year on Whit Tuesday hundreds of pilgrims dance through the streets of Echternach (Luxemburg) to the shrine of S. Willibrod in S. Peter’s Church. Formerly the devotees danced three times round the great Abbey Courtyard before proceeding to the sanctuary. But beyond all these the dance has its own place in the ritual of Holy Church even yet. Three times a year in Seville Cathedral—on Holy Thursday, upon Corpus Christi and the Immaculate Conception—Los Seises dance before a specially constructed altar, exquisitely adorned with flowers and lights, erected near the outer door of the grand western entrance of the cathedral. The cere¬ mony in all probability dates from the thirteenth century.

The dresses of the boys, who dance before the improvised altar at Benediction on Corpus Christi, are of the period of Philip III, and consist of short trousers and jackets that hang from one shoulder, the doublets being of red satin, with rich embroidery. Plumed white hats with feathers arc worn, also shoes with large scintillating buckles. On Holy Thursday the costume is also red and white, whilst it is blue and white for “ the day of the Virgin.”

The eight boy choristers—with eight others as attendants— dance, with castanets in their hands, to a soft organ obbligato, down the centre of the cathedral to the decorated altar, advancing slowly and gracefully. Here they remain for about a quarter of an hour, singing a hymn, and accompanying it (as the carols of the olden time) with dance and castanets.


THE SABBAT


141


They sing a two-part hymn in front of the altar, forming in two eights, facing each other, the clergy kneeling in a semi¬ circle round them.

Assuredly I cannot do better than quote Mr, Arthur Symons 5 verdict on this dance as he saw it a few years back in Seville : “ And, yes, I found it perfectly dignified, perfectly religious, without a suspicion of levity or indecorum. This consecration of the dance, this turning of a possible vice into a means of devotion, this bringing of the people’s art, the people’s passion, which in Seville is dancing, into the church, finding it a place there, is precisely one of those acts of divine worldly wisdom which the Church has so often practised in her conquest of the world.”

Not too fantastically has a writer suggested that High Mass itself in some sense enshrines a survival of the ancient religious dance—that stately, magnificent series of slow movements which surely may express devotion of the most solemn and reverent kind, as well as can the colour of vest¬ ment or sanctuary, or the sounds of melody.

Since the dance is so essentially religious it miist needs be burlesqued and buffooned by God’s ape. For the dance of the witches is degraded, awkward, foul, and unclean. These very movements are withershins, as Guazzo points out; “ Then follow the round dances in which, however, they always tread the measure to the left.” 90 iC The Sorcerers,” says Boguet, “ dance a country-dance with their backs turned one to the other.” 91 This, of course, being the exact reverse of the natural country-dance. cc Sometimes, although seldom,” he adds, “ they dance in couples, & sometimes one partner is there, another here, for always everything is in confusion.” 92 De Lancrc writes of witches’ revels : “They only dance three kinds of brawls. . . . The first is a la BoMmienne . . . the second with quick trippings : these are round dances.” 93 In the third Sabbat measure the dancers were placed one behind another in a straight line.

An old Basque legend reported by Estefanella TTirigaray describes how the witches were wont to meet near an old limekiln to dance their rounds, a ceremony regarded through¬ out that district as an essential feature of the Sabbat, De Lancre notes the brawls & la BoMmienne as especially favoured by sorcerers in Labourd, Sylvester Mazzolini, O.P.



142 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

(1460-1523), Master of the Sacred Palace, and the great champion of orthodoxy against the heresiarch Luther, in his erudite De Strigimagia Q4: relates that in Como and Brescia a number of children between eight and twelve years old, who had frequented the Sabbat, but had been happily converted by the unsparing patience of the Inquisitors, at the request of the Superiors gave exhibitions of these dances when they showed such extraordinary adroitness and skill in executing the most intricate and fantastic figures that it was evident they had been instructed by no mere human tutelage. Marco de Viqueria, the Dominican Prior of the Brussels monastery, closely investigated the matter, and he was a religious of such known acumen and exceptional probity that his testimony soon convinced many prelates at Rome who were inclined to suspect some trickery or cunning practice. In Belgium this Sabbat dance was known as Pauana.

In the Fian trial Agnes Sampson confessed that 46 They danced along the Kirk-yeard , Geilic Duncan playing on a Trump , and John Fein mussiled led the Ring. The said Agnes and her daughter followed next. Besides these were Kate Gray , George Noilis his wife, . . . with the rest of their Cummers above an hundred Persons. 5596 She further added 44 that this Geillis Duncane did goe before them, playing this reill or daunee uppon a small trumpe, called a Jewe’s trumpe, untill they entered into the Kerk of North Bar- rick. 5506 <4 These confessions made the King [James I, then James VI of Scotland] in a wonderfull admiration, and sent for the saide Geillis Duncane, who, upon the like trumpe, did play the saide daunee before the kinges maiestie. 55

Music generally accompanied the dancers, and there is ample evidence that various instruments were played, violins, flutes, tambourines, citterns, hautboys, and, in Scotland, the pipes. Those of the witches who had any skill were the performers, and very often they obliged the company awhile with favourite airs of a vulgar kind, but the concert ended in the most hideous discords and bestial clamour ; the laws of harmony and of decency were alike rudely violated. In August, 1590, a certain Nicolas Laghernhard, on his way to Assencauria, was passing through the outskirts of a wood when he saw through the trees a number of men and women


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dancing with filthy and fantastic movements. In amaze he signed himself and uttered the Holy Name, whereupon the company perceiving him took to flight, but not before he had recognized many of these wretches. He was prompt to inform the ecclesiastical tribunals, and several persons being forthwith questioned freely acknowledged their in¬ famies, Amongst these a shepherd named Michael, who enjoyed a considerable reputation for his musical talents and strangely fascinating voice, confessed that he was the piper at the local Sabbat and that his services were in constant requisition. At the lesser Sabbats ( aquelarre) of Zugarra- murdi, a hamlet of Navarre, some six hundred souls, in the Bastan valley, some twelve leagues from Pampluna, one Juan de Goyburu was wont to play upon the flute, and Juan de Sansin the tambourine. These two unhappy wretches, having shown every sign of sincercst contrition, were reconciled to the Church.

Sinclar in his Relation XXXV, 66 Ancnt some Prayers, Charms, and Avies, used in the Highlands says : “ As the Devil is originally the Author of Charms , and Spells, so is he the Author of several bandy Songs, which are sung. A reverend Minister told me, that one who was the Devils Piper, a wizzard contest to him, that at a Ball of dancing, the Foul Spirit taught him a Baudy song to sing and play, as it were this night, and ere two days past all the Lads and Lasses of the town were lilting it throw the street. It were abomination to rehearse it. 55 Philip Ludwig Elich precisely sums up the confused scene: “ The whole foul mob and stinkard rabble sing the most obscene priapies and abomin¬ able songs in honour of the Devil. One witch yells, Harr , harr; a second hag, Devil, Devil; jump hither, jump thither; a third. Gambol hither, gambol thither; another, Sabaoth, Sabaoth , &c.; and so the wild orgy waxes frantic what time the bedlam rout are screeching, hissing, howling, cater¬ wauling, and whooping lewd wassail.” 97 Of all the horrors of the Sabbat the climax was that appalling blasphemy and abominable impiety by which the most Holy Sacrifice of the Altar was mocked and burlesqued in hideous fashion. And since no Christian will receive the Blessed Sacrament save he be duly fasting as the Church so strictly enjoins, the witches in derision of Christ’s ordinance satiate their appetites


144 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


with a wolfish feast and cram themselves to excess with food of all kinds, both meat and drink, before they proceed to the ritual of hell. These orgies were often prolonged amid circumstances of the most beastly gluttony and drunkenness, Guazzo writes : 46 Tables are laid and duly furnished,

whereupon they set themselves to the board & begin to gobbet piecemeal the meats which the Devil provides, or which each member of the party severally brings with him. 5 ' 98 De Lancre also says : “ Many authors say that sorcerers at the Sabbat eat the food which the Devil lays before them : but very often the table is only dressed with the viands they themselves bring along. Sometimes there are certain tables served with rare dainties, at others with orts and offal. 55 44 Their banquets are of various kinds of food according to the district & the quality of those who are to partake. 55 " It seems plain that when the local head of the witches, who often presided at these gatherings absente diabolo , was a person of wealth or standing, delicacies and choice wines would make their appearance at the feast, but when it was the case of the officer of a coven in some poor and small district, possibly a meeting of peasants, the homeliest fare only might be served. The Lancashire witches of 1613, when they met at Malking Tower, sat down to a goodly spread of cc Beefe, Bacon, and roasted Mutton, 55 the sheep having been killed twenty-four hours earlier by James Device; in 1683 Edmund Robinson stated that the Pendle witches offered him cc flesh and bread upon a trencher, and drink in a glass, 55 they also had “ flesh smoaking, butter in lumps, and milk, 55 truly rustic dainties. Alice Duke, a Somerset witch, tried in 1664, confessed that the Devil 66 bids them Welcome at their Coming, and brings them Wine, Beer, Cakes , and Meal , or the like.” 100 At the trial of Louis Gaufridi at Aix in 1610 the following description of a Sabbat banquet was given : “ Then they feasted, three tables being set out

according to the three aforesaid degrees. Those who were employed in serving bread had loaves made from wheat privily stolen in various places. They drank malmsey in order to excite them to venery. Those who acted as cup¬ bearers had filched the wine from cellars where it was stored. Sometimes they ate the tender flesh of little children, who had been slain and roasted at some Synagogue, and some-




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times babes were brought there, yet alive, whom the witches had kidnapped from their homes if opportunity offered/ 5101 In many places the witches were not lucky enough to get bumpers of malmsey, for Boguet notes that at some Sabbats 64 They not unseldom drink wine but more often water/ 5102

There are occasional records of unsavoury and tasteless viands, and there is even mention of putrefying garbage and carrion being placed before his evil worshippers by their Master. Such would appear to have been the case at those darker orgies when there was a manifestation of supernatural intelligences from the pit.

The Salamanca doctors say : 44 They make a meal from food either furnished by themselves or by the Devil. It is sometimes most delicious and delicate, and sometimes a pie baked from babies they have slain or disinterred corpses. A suitable grace is said before such a table/ 5103 Guazzo thus describes their wine : 44 Moreover the wine which is usually poured out for the revellers is like black and clotted blood served in some foul and filthy vessel. Yet there seems to be no lack of cheer at these banquets, save that they furnish neither bread nor salt. Isabella further added that human flesh was served/ 5104

Salt never appeared at the witches 5 table. Bodin gives us the reason that it is an emblem of eternity, 105 and Philip Ludwig Elich emphatically draws attention to the absence of salt at these infernal banquets. 106 44 At these meals, 55 remarks Boguet, 44 salt never appears/’ 107 Gcntien le Clcrc, who was tried in Orleans in 1015, confessed : 44 They sit down to table, but no salt is ever seen/’ 108 Madeleine de la Palud declared that she had never seen salt, olives, or oil at the Devil’s feasts. 109

When all these wretches are replete they proceed to a solemn parody of Holy Mass.

At the beginning of the eighteenth century Marcelline Pauper of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers was divinely called to offer herself up as a victim of reparation for the outrages done to the Blessed Sacrament, especially by sorcerers in their black masses at the Sabbat. In March, 1702, a frightful sacrilege was committed in the convent chapel. The tabernacle was forced open, the ciborium stolen, and those of the Hosts which had not been

L


146 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


carried away by the Satanists were thrown to the pavement and trampled under foot. Marcelline made ceaseless repara¬ tion, and at nine o’clock of the evening of 26 April, she received the stigmata in hands, feet, and side, and also the Crown of Thoms, After a few years of expiation she died at Tulle, 25 June, 1708.

The erudite Paul Grilland tells us that the liturgy is burlesqued in every detail; “ Those witches who have

solemnly devoted themselves to the Devil’s service, worship him in a particular manner with ceremonial sacrifices, which they offer to the Devil, imitating in all respects the worship of Almighty God, with vestments, lights, and every other ritual observance, and with a set liturgy in which they are instructed, so that they worship and praise him eternally, just as we worship the true God.” 110 This abomination of blasphemy is met with again and again in the confessions of witches, and although particulars may differ here and there, the same quintessence of sacrilege persisted through¬ out the centuries, even as alas ! in hidden corners and secret lairs of infamy it skulks and lurks this very day.

What appears extremely surprising in this connexion is the statement of Cotton Mather that the New England witches tc met in Hellish Rendezvous, wherein the Confessors (i.e. the accused who confessed) do say, they have had their Diabolical Sacraments, imitating the Baptism and the Supper of our Lord.” 111 At the trial of Bridget Bishop, alias Oliver, at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, held at Salem, 2 June, 1692, Deliverance Hobbs, a converted witch, affirmed cc that this Bishop was at a General Meeting of the Witches, in a Field at Village, and there partook of a Diabolical Sacrament

in Bread and Wine then administered.” In the case of Martha Carrier, tried 2 August, 1692, before the same court, two witnesses swore they had seen her “at a Diabolical Sacrament . . . when they had Bread and Wine Adminis¬ tered unto them.” Abigail Williams confessed that on 31 March, 1692, when there was a Public Fast observed in Salem on account of the scourge of sorcery “ the Witches had a Sacrament that day at an house in the Village, and that they had Red Bread and Red Drink” This 44 Red Bread 99 is certainly puzzling. But the whole thing, sufficiently pro¬ fane no doubt, necessarily lacks the hideous impiety of the


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black mass. A minister, the Rev, George Burroughs, is pointed to by accumulated evidence as being the Chief of the Salem witches; <c he was Accused by Eight of the Confessing Witches as being an Head Actor at some of their Hellish Randezvouses, and one who had the promise of being a King In Satan’s kingdom 55 ; it was certainly he who officiated at their ceremonies, for amongst others Richard Carrier 66 affirmed to the jury that he saw Mr. George Burroughs at the witch meeting at the village and saw him administer the sacrament, 55 whilst Mary Lacy, senr., and her daughter Mary “ affirmed that Mr. George Burroughs was at the witch meetings with witch sacraments. 55112

The abomination of the black mass Is performed by some apostate or renegade priest who has delivered himself over to the service of evil and is shamefully prominent amongst the congregation of witches. It should be remarked from this faet that it is plain the witches are as profoundly con¬ vinced of the doctrines of Transubstantiation, the Totality, Permanence, and Adorableness of the Eucharistic Christ, and of the power also of the sacrificing priesthood, as Is the most orthodox Catholic, Indeed, unless such were the case, their revolt would be empty, void at any rate of its material malice.

One of the gravest charges brought against the Templars and in the trials (1307-1314) established beyond any question or doubt was that of celebrating a blasphemous mass in which the words of consecration were omitted. It has, indeed, been suggested that the liturgy used by the Templars was not the ordinary Western Rite, but that it was an Eastern Eucharist. According to Catholic teaching the Consecration takes place when the words of institution are recited with intention and appropriate gesture, the actual change of the entire substances of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ being effected in virtue of the words Hoc est enim Corpus meum; Ilic esl cnim Calicc sanguinis mei . , . , This has been defined by a decree of the Council of Florence (1439) : ct Quod ilia uerba diuina Salu- atoris omnem uirtutem transsubstantiationis habent. 55 (These divine words of Our Saviour have full power to effect tran¬ substantiation.) But the Orthodox Church holds that an Epiklesis is necessary to valid consecration, the actual


148 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

words of Our Lord being repeated 4 6 as a narrative ” [SirjyyjULaTiKcog], 11 * which would seem logically to imply that Christ’s words have no part in the form of the Sacrament, In all Orthodox liturgies the words of Consecration are found together with the Epiklesis, and there are in existence some few liturgies, plainly invalid, which omit the words of Consecra¬ tion altogether. These are all of them forms which have been employed by heretical sects ; and it may be that the Templars used one of these. But it is far more probable that the words were purposely omitted ; the Templars "were corroded with Gnostic doctrines, they held the heresies of the Mandseans or Johannites who were filled with an insane hatred of Christ in much the same way as witches and demonolaters, they followed the tenets of the Ophites who venerated the Serpent and prayed to him for protection against the Creator, they adored and offered sacrifice before an idol, a Head, which, as Professor Prutz holds, represented the lower god whom Gnostic bodies worshipped, that is Satan. At his trial in Tuscany the knight Bernard of Parma confessed that the Order firmly believed this idol had the power to save and to enrich, in fine, flat diabolism. The secret mass of the Templars may have burlesqued an Eastern liturgy rather than the Western rite, but none the less it was the essential cult of the evil principle.

In 1336 a priest who had been imprisoned by the Comte de Foix, Gaston III Phdbus, on a charge of celebrating a Satanic mass, was sent to Avignon and examined by Benedict XII in person. The next year the same pontiff appointed his trusty Guillaume Lombard to preside at the trial of Pierre du Chesne, a priest from the diocese of Tarbes, accused of defiling the Host.

Gilles de Sill6, a priest of the diocese of S. Malo, and the Florentine Antonio Francesco Prelati, formerly of the diocese of Arezzo, were wont to officiate at the black masses of Tiffauges and Macheeoul, the castles of Gilles de Rais, who was executed in 1440.

A priest named Benedictus in the sixteenth century caused great scandal by the discovery of his assistance at secret and unhallowed rites. Charles IX employed an apostate monk to celebrate the eucharist of hell before himself and his intimates, and during the reign of his brother the Bishop of


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Paris burned in the Place de Greve a friar named Sechelle who had been found guilty of participating in similar profane mysteries. In 1597 the Parliament of Paris sentenced Jean Belon, cure of S. Pierre-des-Lampes in the Bourges diocese, to be hanged and his body burned for desecration of the Sacrament and the repeated celebration of abominable cere¬ monies, 114 The Parliament of Bordeaux in 1598 condemned to the stake Pierre Aupetit, cure of Pageas, near Chains Limousin, He confessed that for more than twenty years he had frequented Sabbats, especially those held at Mathe- goutte and Puy-de-Dome, where he worshipped the Devil and performed impious masses in his honour. 115 August 14, 1606, a friar named Denobilibus was put to death at Grenoble upon a similar conviction. In 1609 the Parliament of Bordeaux sent Pierre De Lancre and d’Espagnet to Labourd in the Bayonne district to stamp out the sorcerers who infested that region. No less than seven priests were arrested on charges of celebrating Satan’s mass at the Sabbat. Two, Migalena, an old man of seventy, and Pierre Bocal, aged twenty-seven, were executed, but the Bishop of Bayonne interfered, claimed the five for his own tribunal and contrived that they should escape from prison. Three other priests who were under restraint were immediately set free, and wisely quitted the country. A twelvemonth later Aix and the whole countryside rang with the confessions of Madeleine de la Palud who “Dit aussi que ce malheureux Loys magicien ... a controuve le premier de dire la messe au sabatt et consacrer Vdritablement ct presenter le sacrifice a Lucifer. 5 ’ 116 It was, of course, mere ignorance on her part to suppose that “ that accursed Magician Lewes did first inuent the saying of Masse at the Sabbaths,” although Gaufridi may have told her this to impress her with a sense of his importance and power among the hierarchies of evil. Certainly in her evidence the details of the Sabbat worship arc exceptionally detailed and complete.

They are, however, amply paralleled, if not exceeded, by the narrative of Madeleine Bavent, a Franciscan sister of the Third Order, attached to the convent of SS. Louis and Elizabeth at Louviers. Her confessions, which she wrote at length by the direction of her confessor, des Marets, an Oratorian, meticulously describe scenes of the most hideous


150 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

blasphemy in which were involved three chaplains, David, Maturin Picard, the cure of Mcsnil-Jourdain, and Thomas Boulle, sometime his assistant. Amongst other enormities they had revived the heresy of the Adamites, an early Gnostic sect, and celebrated the Mass in a state of stark nudity amid circumstances of the grossest indecency. Upon one Good Friday Picard and Boulle had compelled her to defile the crucifix and to break a consecrated Host, throwing the fragments upon the ground and trampling them. David and Picard were dead, but Boulle was burned at Rouen, 21 August, 1647. 117

During the reign of Louis XIV a veritable epidemic of sacrilege seemed to rage throughout Paris. 118 The horrors of the black mass were said in many houses, especially in that of La Voisin (Catherine Deshayes) who lived in the rue Beau¬ regard. The leading spirit of this crew was the infamous abbd Guibourg, a bastard son—so gossip said—of Henri de Montmorency. With him were joined Brigallier, almoner of the Grande Mademoiselle; Bouchot, director of the convent of La Saussaye ; Dulong, a canon of Notre-Dame ; Dulausens, vicar of Saint-Leu ; Dubousquet; Seysson ; Dussis; Lempdrier; L^preux; Davot, vicar of Notre- Dame de Bonne-Nouvelle ; Mariette, vicar of Saint-Sdverin, skilled in maledictions ; Lemeignan, vicar of Saint-Eustache, who was convicted of having sacrificed numberless children to Satan ; Toumet; Le Franc ; Cotton, vicar of St. Paul, who had baptized a baby with the chrism of Extreme Unction and then throttled him upon the altar; Guignard and S6bault of the diocese of Bourges, who officiated at the black mass in the cellars of a house at Paris, and confected filthy charms under conditions of the most fearful impiety.

In the eighteenth century the black mass persisted. In 1728 the police arrested the abb£ Lecollet and the abb<£ Boumement for this profanity ; and in 1745 the afoh6 de Rocheblanche fell under the same suspicion. At the hotel of Madame de Charolais the vilest scenes of the Sabbat were continued. A gang of Satanists celebrated their monstrous orgies at Paris on 22 January, 1798, the night after the murder of Louis XVI. The abb6 Fiard in two of his works, Lettres but le diahle , 1791, and La France Trompge . Paris, 8vo, 1808, conclusively shows that eucharistic blasphemies were


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yet being perpetrated blit in circumstances of almost impenetrable secrecy. In 1865 a scandal connected with these abominations came to light, and the Bishop of Sens, in whose diocese it occurred, was so horrified that he resigned his office and retired to Fontainebleau, where he died some eighteen months later, practically of shock. Similar practices were unmasked at Paris in 1874 and again in 1878, whilst it is common knowledge that the characters of Joris Karl Huysmans’ La-Bas were all persons easy of identification, and the details are scenes exactly reproduced from con¬ temporary life. 119 The hideous cult of evil yet endures. Satanists yet celebrate the black mass in London, Brighton, Paris, Lyons, Bruges, Berlin, Milan, and alas ! in Rome itself. Both South America and Canada are thus polluted. In many a town, both great and small, they have their dens of blasphemy and evil where they congregate unsuspected to perform these execrable rites. Often they seem to con¬ centrate their vile energies in the quiet cathedral cities of England, France, Italy, in vain endeavour to disturb the ancient homes of peace with the foul brabble of devil-worship and all ill.

They have even been brought upon the public stage. One episode of Un Soir de Folie , the revue (1925-6) at the Folies Bergere, Paris, was “ Lc Sabbat et la Hcrse Infemale,” where in a Gothic cathedral an actor (Mons. Benglia) appeared as Satan receiving the adoration of his devotees.

At the more frequented Sabbats the ritual of Holy Mass was elaborately burlesqued in almost every detail. An altar was erected with four supports, sometimes under a sheltering tree, at others upon a flat rock, or some naturally convenient place, “ aupres d’vn arbre, ou parfois aupres d’vn rocher, dressant quelque forme d’autel sur des colones infernales,” says De Lancre. 120 In more recent times and to-day when the black mass is celebrated in houses such an altar is often permanent and therefore the infernal sanctuary can be builded with a display of the full symbolism of the hideous cult of evil. The altar was covered with the three linen cloths the ritual enjoins, and upon it were six black candles in the midst of which they placed a crucifix inverted, or an image of the Devil. Sometimes the Devil himself occupied this central position, standing erect, or seated on some kind


152 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

of monstrous throne. In 1598, at a celebrated witch-trial before the Parliament of Bordeaux with the Vicar-general of the Bishop of Limoges and a learned councillor Peyrat as assessors, Antoine Dumons of Saint-Laurent confessed that he had frequently provided a large number of candles for the Sabbat, both wax lights to be distributed among those present and the large black tapers for the altar. These were lit by Pierre Aupetit, who held a sacristan’s reed, and apparently officiated as Master of the Ceremonies when he was not actually himself saying the Mass. 121

In May, 1895, when the legal representatives of the Borgliese family visited the Palazzo Borghese, which had been rented for some time in separate floors or suites, they found some difficulty in obtaining admission to certain apartments on the first floor, the occupant of which seemed unaware that the lease was about to expire. By virtue of the terms of the agreement, however, he was obliged to allow them to inspect the premises to sec if any structural repairs or alterations were necessary, as Prince Scipione Borghese, who was about to be married, intended immediately to take up his residence in the ancestral home with liis bride. One door the tenant obstinately refused to unlock, and when pressed he betrayed the greatest confusion. The agents Anally pointed out that they were within their rights to employ actual force, and that if access was longer denied they would not hesitate to do so forthwith. When the keys had been produced, the cause of the reluctance was soon plain. The room within was inscribed with the words Templum Palladicum . The walls were hung all round from ceiling to floor with heavy curtains of silk damask, scarlet and black, excluding the light; at the further end there stretched a large tapestry upon which was woven in more than life-size a figure of Lucifer, colossal, triumphant, dominating the whole. Exactly beneath an altar had been built, amply furnished for the liturgy of hell: candles, vessels, rituals, missal, nothing was lacking. Cushioned pric-dieus and luxurious chairs, crimson and gold, were set in order for the assistants ; the chamber being lit by electricity, fantastically arrayed so as to glare from an enormous human eye. The visitors soon quitted the accursed spot, the scene of devil- worship and blasphemy, nor had they any desire more


THE SABBAT 153

nearly to examine the appointments of this infernal chapel. 122

The missal used at the black mass was obviously a manu¬ script, although it is said that in later times these grimoires of hideous profanity have actually been printed. It is not infrequently mentioned. Thus De Lancre notes that the sorcerers of the Basses-Pyrenees (1609) at their worship saw the officiant “ tournant les feuillets dVn certain liure qu’il a en main. 55123 Madeleine Bavent in her confession said : ct On lisait la messe dans le livre des blasphemes, qui servait de canon et qu’on employait aussi dans les processions.” 124 The witches 5 missal was often bound in human skin, generally that of an unbaptized babe. 125 Genticn le Clerc, tried at Orleans, 1614-1615, confessed that <c le Diable . . . marmotc dans un liure duquel la couuerture est toutc velue commc d 5 vne peau de loup, aucc des feuillets blancs & rouges, d’autres noires.”

The vestments worn by the celebrant are variously described. On rare occasions he is described as being arrayed in a bishop’s pontificalia, black in hue, torn, squalid, and fusty. Boguet reports that a witch stated : C£ Cciuy, qui est commis a faire Poffice, est reuestu d’vne chappe noire sans croix, 55126 but it seems somewhat strange that merely a plain black cope should be used, unless the explanation is to be found in the fact that such a vestment was most easily procurable and no suspicion of its ultimate employment would be excited. The abbe Guibourg sometimes wore a cope of white silk embroidered with fir-cones, which again seems remark¬ able, as the symbolism is in no way connected with the Satanic rites he performed. But this is the evidence of Marguerite, La Voisin’s daughter, who was not likely to be mistaken. 127 It is true that the mass was often, perhaps, partially erotic and not wholly diabolic in the same sense as the Sabbat masses were, but yet Astaroth, Asmodeus, and Lucifer were invoked, and it was a liturgy of evil. On other occasions Guibourg seems to have donned the orthodox eueharistic chasuble, stole, maniple, girdle, alb, and amice. In the thirty-seventh article of his confession Gaufridi acknowledged that the priest who said the Devil’s mass at the Sabbat wore a violet chasuble. 128 Genticn le Clerc, tried at Orleans in 1614-1615, was present at a Sabbat mass when


154 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

the celebrant cc wore a chasuble which was embroidered with a Cross; but there were only three bars . 55129 Later a contemporary witness points to the use of vestments em¬ broidered with infernal insignia, such as a dark red chasuble, the colour of dried blood, upon which was figured a black buck goat rampant; a chasuble that bore the inverse Cross, and similar robes adorned by some needle with the heraldry of hell.

In bitter mockery of the Asperges the celebrant sprinkled the witches with filthy and brackish water, or even with stale. “ The Devil at the same time made water into a hole dug in the earth, & used it as holy water, wherewith the celebrant of the mass sprinkled all present, using a black aspergillum.” 130 Silvain NeviJlon, a sorcerer who was tried at Orleans in 1614-1615, said: “When Tramesabot said Mass, before he commenced he used to sprinkle all present with holy water which was nothing else than urine, saying mean¬ while Asperges Diaboli .” 131 According to Gentien le Clerc: “ The holy water is yellow ... & after it has been duly sprinkled Mass is said.” 132 Madeleine de la Palud declared that the sorcerers were sprinkled with water, and also with consecrated wine from the chalice upon which all present cried aloud : Sanguis eius super nos et super filios nostros, 12 * (His blood be upon us and upon our children.)

This foul travesty of the holiest mysteries began with an invocation of the Devil, which was followed by a kind of general confession, only each one xnade mock acknowledge¬ ment of any good he might have done, and as a penance he was enjoined to utter some foul blasphemy or to break some precept of the Church. The president absolved the con¬ gregation by an inverse sign of the Cross made with the left hand. The rite then proceeded with shameless profanity, but De Lancre remarks that the Conjiteor was never said, not even in a burlesque form, and Alleluia never pronounced. After reciting the Offertory the celebrant drew back a little from the altar and the assembly advancing in file kissed Ms left hand. When the Queen of the Sabbat—the witch who ranked first after the Grand Master, the oldest and most evil of the witches (“ en chasque village,” says De Lancre, “trouuer vne Royne du Sabbat”)—was present she sat on the left of the altar and received the offerings, loaves* eggs,


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any meat or country produce, and money, so long as the coins were not stamped with a cross. In her hand she held a disc or plate 44 vne paix ou platine,” engraved with a figure of the Devil, and this his followers devoutly kissed. In many places to-day, especially Belgium, during Holy Mass the pax-brede ( instrumentum pads) is kissed by the congregation at the Offertory, and universally when Mass is said by a priest in the presence of a Prelate the pax-brede is kissed by the officiant and the Prelate after the Agnus Dei and the first appropriate ante-communion prayer.

Silvain Nevillon, who was tried at Orleans in 1614-15, avowed : 46 The Devil preached a sermon at the Sabbat, but nobody could hear what he said, for he spoke in a growl. 5 ’ 134

At the Sabbat a sermon is not infrequently delivered, a farrago of impiety and evil counsel.

The hosts are then brought to the altar. Boguet describes them as dark and round, stamped with a hideous design ; Madeleine Bavent saw them as ordinary wafers only coloured red ; in other cases they were black and triangular in shape. Often they blasphemed the Host, calling it 44 lean le Mane,” just as Protestants called it 44 Jack-in-the-box.” The chalice is filled, sometimes with wine, sometimes with a bitter beverage that burned the tongue like fire. At the Sanctus a horn sounded harshly thrice, and torches burning with a sulphurous blue flare 44 qui est fort puante ” were kindled. There was an elevation, at which the whole gang, now in a state of hysterical excitement and unnatural exaltation, burst forth with the most appalling screams and maniac blasphemies, rivalling each other in filthy adjurations and crapulous obscenities. The protagonist poured out all the unbridled venom that diabolic foulness could express, a stream of scurrility and pollution ; hell seemed to have vomited its reeking gorge on earth. Domine adiuua nos , domine adiuua nos , they cried to the Demon, and again Domine adiuua nos semper . Generally all present were com¬ pelled to communicate with the sacrament of the pit, to swallow morsels soiled with mud and ordures, to drink the dark brew of damnation. Gaufridi confessed that for lie missa est these infernal orgies concluded with the curse : 44 Allez-vous-en tous au nom du diable 1 ” Whilst the abb <6 Guibourg cried : ** Gloria tihi , Lucifero ] ”


156 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


The black mass of the Sabbat varied slightly in form according to circumstances, and in the modern liturgy of the Satanists it would appear that a considerable feature is made of the burning of certain heavy and noxious weeds, the Devil’s incense. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the use of incense is very rare at the Sabbat, although Silvain Nevillon stated that he had seen at the Sabbat “both holy water and incense. This latter smelled foul, not fragrant as incense burned in church . 53135

The officiant nowadays consecrates a host and the chalice with the actual sacred words of Holy Mass, but then instead of kneeling he turns his back upon the altar , 136 and a few moments later —sit uenia uerbis !—he cuts and stabs the Host with a knife, throwing it to the ground, treading upon it, spurning it. A part, at least, of the contents of the chalice is also spilled in fearful profanation, and not infrequently there further has been provided a ciborium of consecrated Hosts, all stolen from churches 137 or conveyed away at Communion in their mouths by wretches unafraid to provoke the sudden judgement of an outraged God. These the black priest, for so the celebrant is called by the Devil worshippers, scatters over the pavement to be struggled and fought for by his congregation in their madness to seize and outrage the Body of Christ.

Closely connected with the black mass of the Satanists and a plain survival from the Middle Ages is that grim superstition of the Gascon peasant, the Mass of S. Secaire . 138 Few priests know the awful ritual, and of those who are learned in such dark lore fewer yel would dare to perform the monstrous ceremonies and utter the prayer of blasphemy. No confessor, no bishop, not even the Archbishop of Auch, may shrive the celebrant; he can only be absolved at Rome by the Holy Father himself. The mass is said upon a broken and desecrated altar in some ruined or deserted church where owls hoot and mope and bats flit through the crumbling windows, where toads spit their venom upon the sacred stone.* The’priest must make his way thither late attended only by an acolyte of impure and evil life. At the first stroke of eleven he begins ; the liturgy of hell is mumbled backward, the canon said with a mow and a sneer; he ends just as midnight tolls. The host is triangular, with three sharp


THE SABBAT


157


points and black. No wine is consecrated but foul brackish water drawn from a well wherein has been cast the body of an unbaptized babe. The holy sign of the cross is made with the left foot upon the ground. And the man for whom that mass is said will slowly pine away, nor doctor’s skill nor physic will avail him aught, but he will suffer, and dwindle, and surely drop into the grave. 139

Although there is, no doubt, some picturesque exaggeration here the main details are correct enough. A black, triangular wafer is not infrequently mentioned in the witch-trials as having been the sacramental bread of the Sabbat, whilst Lord Fountainhall 140 in describing the devilish communion of the Loudian witches says : cc the drink was sometimes blood, sometimes black moss-water,” and many other details may be closely paralleled.

When the blasphemous liturgy of the Sabbat was done all present gave themselves up to the most promiscuous de¬ bauchery, only interrupting their lasciviousness to dance or to spur themselves on to new enormities by spiced foods and copious draughts of wine. “ You may well suppose,” writes Boguct, “ that every kind of obscenity is practised there, yea, even those abominations for which Heaven poured down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah are quite common in these assemblies.” 141 The erudite Dominican, Father Sebastian Michaelis, who on the 19 January, 1611, examined Madeleine de la Palud concerning her participation in Sabbats, writes 142 that she narrated the most unhallowed orgies. 143 The imagination reels before such turpitudes! But Madeleine Bavent (1043) supplied even more execrable details. 144 Gentien le Clcrc at Orleans (1014-1615) acknow¬ ledged similar debauchery. 146 Bodin relates that a large number of witches whom he tried avowed their presence at the Sabbat, 146 In 1459 “ large numbers of men & women were burned at Arras, many of whom had mutually accused one another, & they confessed that at night they had been conveyed to these hellish dances.” 147 In 1485 Sprengcr executed a large number of sorcerers in the Constance dis¬ trict, and " c almost all without exception confessed that the Devil had had connexion with them, after he had made them renounce God and their holy faith.” 148 Many converted witches likewise confessed these abominations “ and let it be


158 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

known that whilst they were witches demons had swived them lustily. Henry of Cologne in confirmation of this says that it is very common in Germany .” 149 Throughout the cen¬ turies all erudite authorities have the same monstrous tale to tell, and it would serve no purpose merely to accumulate evidence from the demonologists. To-day the meetings of Satanists invariably end in unspeakable orgies and hideous debauchery.

Occasionally animals were sacrificed at the Sabbat to the Demon. The second charge against Dame Alice Kyteler, prosecuted in 1824 for sorcery by Richard de Ledrede, Bishop of Ossory, was “that she was wont to offer sacrifices to devils of live animals, which she and her company tore limb from limb and made oblation by scattering them at the cross-ways to a certain demon who was called Robin, son of Artes (Robin Artisson), one of hell’s lesser princes.” 150

In 1622 Margaret Me William “ renounced her baptisme, and he baptised her and she gave him as a gift a hen or cock .” 151 In the Voodoo rites of to-day a cock is often the animal which is hacked to pieces before the fetish. Black puppies were sacrificed to Hecate; iEneas offers four jetty bullocks to the infernal powers, a coal-black lamb to Night ; 152 at their Sabbat on the Esquiline Canidia and Sagana tear limb from limb a black sheep, the blood streams into a trench . 153 Collin de Plancy states that witches sacrifice black fowls and toads to the Devil . 154 The animal victim to a power worshipped as divine is a relic of remotest antiquity.

The presence of toads at the Sabbat is mentioned in many witch-trials. They seem to have been associated with sorcerers owing to the repugnance they generally excite, and in some districts it is a common superstition that those whom they regard fixedly will be seized with palpitations, spasms, convulsions, and swoons: nay, a certain abbe Rousseau of the eighteenth century, who experimented with toads, avowed that when one of these animals looked upon him for some time he fell in a fainting fit whence, if help had not arrived, he would never have recovered , 155 A number of writers—iElian, Dioscorides, Meander, iEtius, Gesner— believe that the breath of the toad is poisonous, infecting the places it may touch. Since such idle stories were credited


THE SABBAT


159


it is hardly to be surprised at that we find the toad a close companion of the witch. De Lancre says that demons often appeared in that shape. Jeannette d’Abadie, a witch of the Basses-Pyr6ndes, whom he tried and who confessed at length, declared that she saw brought to the Sabbat a number of toads dressed some in black, some in scarlet velvet, with little bells attached to their coats. In November, 1010, a man walking through the fields near Bazas, noticed that his dog had scratched a large hole in a bank and unearthed two pots, covered with cloth, and closely tied. When opened they were found to be packed with bran, and in the midst of each was a large toad wrapped in green tiffany. These doubtless had been set there by a person who had faith in sympathetic magic, and was essaying a malefic spell. No doubt toads were caught and taken to the Sabbat, nor is the reason far to seek. Owing to their legendary venom they served as a prime ingredient in poisons and potions, and were also used for telling fortunes, since witches often divined by their toad familiars. Juvenal alludes to this when he writes :

“ I neither will, nor can Prognosticate To the young gaping Heir, his Father’s Fate Nor in the Entrails of a Toad have pry’d.” 166

Upon which passage Thomas Farnabie, the celebrated English scholar (1575-1647) glosses thus : ct He alludes to the office of the Haruspex who used to inspect entrails & intestines. Pliny says: The entrails of the toad (Rana rubeta ), that is to say the tongue, tiny bones, gall, heart, have rare virtue for they are used in many medicines and salves. Haply he means the pud- dock or hop-toad, thus demonstrating that these animals are not poisonous, their entrails being completely inefficacious in confecting poisons. 5 ’ 157 In 1610 Juan de Echalar, a sorcerer of Navarre, confessed at his trial before the Alcantarine inquisitor Don Alonso Becerra Holguin that he and his coven collected toads for the Sabbat, and when they presented these animals to the Devil he blessed them with his left hand, after which they were killed and cooked in a stewpot with human bones and pieces of corpses rifled from new-made graves. From this filthy hotch-potch were brewed poisons and unguents that the Devil distributed to all present with directions how to use them. By sprinkling corn with the


160 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

liquid it was supposed they could blight a standing field and also destroy flowers and fruit. A few drops let fall upoi a person’s garments was believed to insure death, and e smear upon the shed or sty effectually diseased cattle. Froir these crude superstitions the fantastic stories of dancing toads, toads dressed cn cavalier , and demon toads at the Sabbat were easily evolved.

There is ample and continuous evidence that children, usually tender babes who were as yet unbaptized, were sacrificed ai the Sabbat. These were often the witches’ own offspring, and since a witch not unseldom was the midwife or wise- woman of a village she had exceptional opportunities ol stifling a child at birth as a non-Sabbatial victim to Satan. 44 There are no persons who can do more cunning harm to the Catholic faith than midwives, 55 says the Malleus Maleficarum , Pars I, q. xi: 64 Nemo jidei eatholicce amplius nocei quam obstetricesN The classic examples of child-sacrifice are those of Gilles de Rais (1440) and the abbe Guibourg (1080). In the process against the former one hundred and forty children are explicitly named ; some authorities accept as many as eight hundred victims. Their blood, brains, and bones were used to decoct magic philtres. In the days of Guibourg the sacrifice of a babe at the impious mass was so common that he generally paid not more than a crown-piece for his victim. 44 II avait achete un ecu Penfant qui fut sacrifie a cctte messc. 55 ( 44 The child sacrificed at this mass he had bought for a crown, 55 ) These abominable ceremonies were frequently per¬ formed at the instance of Madame dc Montespan in order that Louis XIV should always remain faithful to her, should reject all other mistresses, repudiate his queen, and in fine raise her to the throne. 158 The most general use was to cut the throat of the child, whose blood was drained into the chalice and allowed to fall upon the naked flesh of the inquirer, who lay stretched along the altar. La Voisin asserted that a toll of fifteen hundred infants had been thus murdered. This is not impossible, as a vast number of persons, including a crowd of ecclesiastics, were implicated. Many of the greatest names in France had assisted at these orgies of blasphemy. From first to last no less than two hundred and forty-six men and women of all ranks and grades of society were brought to trial, and whilst thirty-six


THE SABBAT


161


of humbler station went to the scaffold, one hundred and forty-seven were imprisoned for longer or shorter terms, not a few finding it convenient to leave the country, or, at any rate, to obscure themselves in distant chateaux. But many of the leaves had been torn out of the archives, and Louis himself forbade any mention of his favourite’s name in connexion with these prosecutions. However, she was disgraced, and it is not surprising that after the death of Maria Teresa, 31 July, 1683, the king early in the following year married the pious and conventual Madame de Main- tenon.

Ludovico Maria Sinistrari writes that witches cc promise the Devil sacrifices and offerings at stated times : once a fortnight, or at least each month, the murder of some child, or an homicidal act of sorcery,” and again and again in the trials detailed accusation of the kidnapping and murder of children are brought against the prisoners. In the same way as the toad was used for magical drugs so was the fat of the child. The belief that corpses and parts of corpses constitute a most powerful cure and a supreme ingredient in elixirs is universal and of the highest antiquity. The quality of directly curing diseases and of protection has long been attributed to a cadaver. Tumours, eruptions, gout, are dispelled if the afflicted member be stroked with a dead hand. 159 Toothache is charmed away if the face be touched with the finger of a dead child. 100 Birthmarks vanish under the same treatment. 101 Burns, carbuncles, the herpes, and other skin complaints, fearfully prevalent in the Middle Ages, could be cured by contact with some part of a corpse. In Pomerania the “ cold corpse hand ” is a protection against fire, 162 and Russian peasants believe that a dead hand protects from bullet wounds and steel. 163 It was long thought by the ignorant country folk that the doctors of the hospital of Graz enjoyed the privilege of being allowed every year to exploit one human life for curative purposes. Some young man who repaired thither for toothache or any such slight ailment is seized, hung up by the feet, and tickled to death ! Skilled chemists boil the body to a paste and utilize this as well as the fat and the charred bones in their drug store. The people are persuaded that about Easter a youth annually disappears in the hospital for these purposes. 164 This

M


162 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

tradition is, perhaps, not unconnected with the Jewish ritua sacrifices of S. William of Norwich (1144); Harold of Glou cester (1168); William of Paris (1177); Robert of Bur] S. Edmunds (1181); S. Werner of Oberwesel (1286) S. Rudolph of Berne (1294) ; S. Andreas of Rinn (1462) S. Simon of Trent, a babe of two and a half years old ( 1473 ) : Simon Abeles, whose body lies in the Tcyn Kirche at Prague murdered for Christ’s sake on 21 February, 1694, by Lazarus and Levi Kurtzhandel; El santo Nino dc la Guardia, neai Toledo (1490), and many more. 105

The riots which have so continually during three centuries broken out in China against Europeans, and particularly against Catholic asylums for the sick, foundling hospitals, schools, are almost always fomented by an intellectual party who begin by issuing fiery appeals to the populace : “ Down with the missionaries ! Kill the foreigners ! They steal or buy our children and slaughter them, in order to prepare magic remedies and medicines out of their eyes, hearts, and from other portions of their dead bodies.” Baron Hiibner in his Promenade autour du monde, II (Paris, 1873) tells the story of the massacre at Tientsin, 21 June, 1870, and relates that it was engineered on these very lines. In 1891 similar risings against Europeans resident in China were found to be due to the same cause. Towards the end of 1891 a charge was brought in Madagascar against the French that they devoured human hearts and for this purpose kidnapped and killed native children. Stern legislation was actually found necessary to check the spread of these accusations. 166

In the Navarrese witch-trials of 1610 Juan de Echelar confessed that a candle had been used made from the arm of an infant strangled before baptism. The ends of the fingers had been lit, and burned with a clear flame, a ct Hand of Glory ” in fact. At Forfar, in 1661, Helen Guthrie and four other witches exhumed the body of an unbaptized babe and made portions into a pie which they ate. They imagined that by this means no threat nor torture could bring them to confession of their sorceries. This, of course, is clearly sympathetic magic. The tongue of the infant had never spoken articulate words, and so the tongues of the witches would be unable to articulate.


THE SABBAT


168


It Is a fact seldom realized, but none the less of the deepest significance, that almost every detail of the old witch-trials can be exactly paralleled in Africa to-day. Thus there exists in Bantu a society called the “ Witchcraft Company, 55 whose members hold secret meetings at midnight In the depths of the forest to plot sickness and death against their enemies by means of incantations and spells. The owl Is their sacred bird, and their signal call an Imitation of its hoot. They profess to leave their corporeal bodies asleep in their huts, and it Is only their spirit-bodies that attend the magic rendezvous, passing through walls and over the tree-tops with instant rapidity. At the meeting they have visible, audible, and tangible communication with spirits. They hold feasts, at which is eaten the “ heart-life 55 of some human being, who through this loss of his heart falls sick and, unless “ the heart 55 be later restored, eventually dies. Earliest cock-crow Is the warning for them to disperse, since they fear the advent of the morning-star, as, should the sun rise upon them before they reach their corporeal bodies, all their plans would not merely fail, but recoil upon themselves, and they would pine and languish miserably. This hideous Society was introduced by black slaves to the West Indies, to Jamaica and Hayti, and also to the Southern States of America as Voodoo worship. Authentic records are easily procurable which witness that midnight meetings were held in Hayti as late as 1888, when human beings, especially kidnapped children, were killed and eaten at the mysterious and evil banquets. European government in Africa has largely suppressed the practice of the black art, but this foul belief still secretly prevails, and Dr. Norris 167 is of opinion that were white influence withdrawn it would soon hold sway as potently as of old.

A candid consideration will show that for every detail of the Sabbat, however fantastically presented and exaggerated in the witch-trials of so many centuries, there is ample warrant and unimpeachable evidence. There is some hallu¬ cination no doubt; there is lurid imagination, and vanity which paints the colours thick ; but there is a solid stratum of fact, and very terrible fact throughout.

And as the dawn broke the unhallowed crew separated in haste, and hurried each one on his way homewards, pale,


164 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


weary, and haggard after the night of taut hysteria, frenzied evil, and vilest excess.

“ Le eoq s’oyt par fois 6s sabbats sonnat le retraicfce aux Sorciers. 55168 (The cock crows; the Sabbat ends; the Sorcerers scatter and flee away.)

NOTES TO CHAPTER IV

1 Omnia autem honosto et socunclum ordmom fiant. 1 Cor. xiv. 40.

2 Miss Murray, misled no doubt by tho multiplicity of matorial, postulates two separate and distinct kinds of assemblies : The Sabbat, the Gonoral Meeting of all mombors of the religion ; tho Esbat “ only for the special and limitod number who carried out the rites and practices of tho cult, and [winch] was not for the gonoral public.” The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, p. 97. Gorres had already pomtod out that the smaller meetings wore often known as Esbats. Tho idea of a “general public ” at a witches’ meeting is singular.

3 On a voulu trouver l’otymologio du sabbat, riunion dos sorciers, dans les sabazies ; mais la forme no lo per met pas ; d’ailleurs comment, an znoyen ago aurait on connu los sabazies ? Samt-Croix, Mecherches sur les my stares du pagamsme ; Maury, Histoire des religions de la Grace antique .

4 Metamorphoseon , VIII. 25.

5 Miss Murray thinks that Sabbat “ is possibly a derivative of s'esbaitre ,

  • to frolic,’ ” and adds “ a very suitable description of the joyous gaiety of

the meetings ” ! !

6 Miss Murray mistakenly says (p. 109) that May Eve (30 April) is called Roodmas or Rood Day. Roodmas or Rood Day is 3 May, the Feast of tho Invention of Holy Cross. An early English calendar (702-706) oven gives 7 May as Roodmas. Tho Invention of Holy Cross is found in the Loctionary of Silos and tho Bobbio Missal. The date was not slightly altered. The Invention of Holy Cross is among the very early festivals.

7 Especially in tho North and North-East. Bavaria, Wur tomb erg, and Baden, knew little of this particular date.

8 In the Rituale wo have “Bonedictio Rogi, quae fit a Cloro extra Ecclosiam in IJigiha Natmitatis S. Joannis Baptists. (Blessing of a pyre, which the Clergy may give on the Vigil of tho Nativity of S. John Baptist, but out¬ side the Church.) This form is especially approved for tho Diocese of Tarbes.

0 Relation de las personas que saheron al auto de la j& que los inquisidores apost6heos del reino de Navarra y su distrito , eelebraron en la ciudad De Loyioho, en 7 y 8 del mes de noviembre de 1610 ahos , 1611.

10 Discours des Sorciers , XXII, 12, Tertullian’s Diabolus simia Dei .

Idem , XX. 2.

12 Tableau , p. 65

13 Les lieux dos assemblies dos Sorciers sont notables et signaled de quelquos arbres, ou croix. Fleau , p. 181.

14 Anthony Homock; Appendix to Glanvill’s Sadducismus Triumphatus . London, 1681.

15 Locus in diuorsis regionibus ost diuorsus ; plerumque autem comitia in syluestribus, montams, uel subterranois atquo ab liommum conuersatione dissitis locis habentur, Mela, Lib, 3. cap . 44. montom Atlantem nominat; de Vaulx Magus Stabuloti decollatus, fatobatur 1603, m Hollandia congroga- tionem frequentissimam fuisse m Ultraioetinse ditionis aliquo loco. Nobis ab hoc conuentu notus atq ; notatus mons Bructerorum, Meliboeus alias dictus in ducatu Brunsuiconsi, uulgo der Blochsberg oder Heweberg , Poucero, der Broclcersberg , <fc Tilemanno Stolke, der Vogelsberg , perhibente Ortelio in Thesauro Geographico . For the Brtictori see Tacitus, Germania , 33: Velleius Paterculus, II, 105, i. Bruclera natio, Tacitus, Histories* IV, 01.

10 . . . lo lieu oh on le trouuo ordmairomont s’appelle Lanno de bouc, & en Basque Aquelarre de verros , prado del Cabron, & 14 des Sorciers


THE SABBAT 165

le vont adorer trois nuicts durant, cello du Lundy, du Morcredy, & du Vendredy. Do Lancre, Tableau , p. 62.

17 Boguet, Discou? s des Sorciers, p. 124.

18 A Pleasant Treatise of Witches, London, 1673.

10 Psalm xc.

20 Conuentus, ut plunmum meuntur viol noclis modire silontio, quando uiget potestas tonobrarurn ; uol mtordiu moiidio, quo sunt qui reforant illud Psalmistse no turn do daemomo mondiano. Nodes fro quont lores, quae feriam tertiam ot sextam praecedunt Deino, Disquisitiones Magiccc , Lib II. xvi.

21 Discours , XIX. 1. u The Sorcerers assemble at the Sabbat about midnight.”

22 Her indictment consists of fifty-three points.

23 Spottiswoode’s Practices*

24 Spalding Club, Miscellany , I.

25 MS. formerly m tho possession of Michael Stewart Nieolson, Esq.

26 ... jo mo trouvais transports an lieu oil lo Sabatt so tonait, y demeurant quelquefois une, deux, trois, quatre heurcs pour le plus souvent suivant les affections.

27 Forunt uagantes Daemon as Laetas tenebras noctmrn Gallo canente externtos Sparsim timer© et credere.

28 Nocturna lux uiantibus

A nocto noctom segregans,

Praeco dioi iam sonat, lubarque solis ouocat.

Hoc nauta inros colli git,

Pontiquo mitescunt freta :

Hoc, ipsa potra Ecclesue,

Canonto, culpam diluit.

Surgamus ergo stromio :

Gallus iacontes ©xcitat,

Et somnolontos increpat,

Gallus negantes arguit.

Gallo canente, spes rodit,

ASgris salus refunditur,

Macro latronis conditur,

Lapsis fidos reuertitur.

Tho translation in text is by Caswall, 1848.

29 Tableau , p. 164.

80 For London, see Dr. Johnson’s London (1738):

Prepare for death, if here at night you roam.

And sign your will before you sup from homo.

In 1600 Paolo Capello, the Venetian Ambassador, wrote : “ Every night they find m Rome four or five murdered men. Prelates and so forth.” During the reign of Philip IV (1621-1666) the streets of Madrid, noisome, unpaved, were only lit on tho occasion of festal illuminations.

« 1475-1646.

32 Quando uadunt ad loca propinqua uadunt pedostres mutuo se inuicem inuitantes. De 8trigibus, II.

33 Les Sorciers nehtmoins vont quolquefois d© pied au Sabbat, ce qui lour aduient prmcipaloment, lors quo le liou oh lls font lour assemble©, n’est pas guieros eslongd do leur habitation. Discours , c. xvii.

34 Enquis en quel liou so tint 1© Sabbat lo dernier fois qu’il y fut.

Respond quo eo fut vors Billerorx 4 un Oarroy qui est sur lo chemin

tondant aux Aix, Parroisso de Saincte Soulango, Justice do ceans.

Enquis de quell© fa?on il y va.

Respond qu’il y va d© son pled.

D© Lancro, Tableau, pp. 803-806.

85 Aussi vilain & abominable oat au Soreior d’y aller de son pied que d f j ostro transport6 de son consentement par 1© Diablo. Tableau, p. 632,


166 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


36 Sinclar, Satan's Invisible World Discovered (Reprint 1875), VII*

37 Idem, p. 25.

38 Idem , pp. 175, 178.

39 Illxid efciam non omittendum quod qusedam sceleratao mulieros rotro post Satanam conuersse, dsemonum lllusonbns ot phantasmatibus secluctse credunt se et profitentur nocturms lions cum Diana paganorum dea et innumera multifcudme mulierum equitare super quasdam bestias ot multa terrarum spatia mtempestoo noctis silentio pertransire eiusquo mssiombus uelut dommao obedire, et cortis nootibus ad oius seruitium euocan. Mmgo, Patres Latmz , CXXXIL 352.

40 See Piofessor A J. Clark’s note upon “ Flying Ointments ” Witch-Cult in Western Em ope, pp 279-280.

41 Posset daemon eas transferre sine unguento, ot facit aliquando , sod unguento mauult uti uarns de causis. Aliquando quia tumdioros sunt saga*, ut andeant; uol quia tenenores sunt ad kornbilom ilium Satan® contactum in corpora assumpto ferendum ; horum omm unctione sonsum obstupefaeit ©t misens porsuadet mm unguonto mosso maximam. Alias autom id faeit ut sacrosancta a Deo mstituta sacranionta, immico adumbret, et per has quasi cenmomas suis orgns reuorontue ot uonorationis aliquid concihut. Delrio, Disquitiones magtcca, Libor II, q io xvi.

42 In antiquity we have the case of Simon Magus, who was levitated in th© prosence of Nero and his court.

43 Henri Bog net, the High Justice of the district of Saint-Glaudo, died in 1616. Tho first edition (of the last rarity) of his Discours dcs Sorcieis is Lyons, 1602 ; second edition, Lyons 1608 ; but there is also a Pans issue, 1603. Pp. 64 and 104.

44 Scot, Discovene of Witchcraft (1584). Book III p. 42.

45 De Lancre, Tableau , p. 211.

46 Thomas Wright, Proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler , Camden Society 1843.

47 Cotton Mather, Wonders of the Invisible World , 1693. (Reprint, 1862. P. 158.)

48 Quarterly Journal of Science, January, 1874.

49 J. Godfrey Rauport, Modern Spiritism. 1904. Pp. 34, 35. See also Sir W* Barrett, On the Threshold of the Unseen , p. 70.

®° Arthur Lillie, Modern Mystics and Modern Magic , 1894, pp. 74, 76,

C1 David Lewis, Life of S. John of the Gross (1897), pp. 73-4.

82 See the Saint’s own letter (written in 1777) to the Bishop of Foggia. Letters di S. Alfonso Maria de' Liguori (Roma, 1887), II. 456 f.

83 Philip Coghlan, or. Gemma Galgani (1923), p. 62. For fuller details see the larger biography by Padre Germano.

54 Vie du B Paul de la Croix. (French translation.) I. Book xi. c. 3.

86 La Mystique Divine . Traduit par Sarnie-Foi. V, via. 17. p. 193.

Giovanni Francesco Ponzmibio was a lawyer whose De Lam its was

published at Venice, 1523-4. It called forth a reply, Apologies ires aduersum Joannem Pranciscum Pommibium lurisperitum , Venice, 1525. The edition of De Lamiis I have used is Venice, 1584, in tho Thesamus Magnorum turis consultorum. This reprint was mot by Pena’s answer and two treatises by Bartolomeo Spina, o.p.

87 Rome, 1584.

88 De modo quo localiter transforontur [saga?] de loco ad locum. , , • Probatur quod possint malefic! corporaliter transferri.

69 An isti Sortilegi & Strigimag® siu© Lamia? uero & corporaliter doforantur a daemon© uel solum in spintu ? De Sortilegiis, VII.

60 Sum modo istms socundao opinioma quod doforantur in corpora.

81 Doetrina multi oorura qui soquuti sunt Luthorum, & Melanctonom, tenuoront Sagas ad conuentus accodero animi duntaxat cogitation©, Sc diabolica illusiono intorosso, allogantos quod eorum corpora inuenta sunt seep© aumoro eodom loco iacentia, noc mde mora fuisso, ad hoc illud pertinents quod est in uita D. German!, de mulierculis conuxuantibus, vt uidebantur, Sc tame dormierant dormientes. Huiusmodi mulierculas sa?po numoro decipi


THE SABBAT


167


certum est, sed semper ita fieri non probatur, . . . Altera, quam uenssimam esse duco, ost, nonnunquam uere Sagas transferri a Daemon© de loco ad locum, hirco, uel alteri animali fantastico vfc plunmum eas simul asportanti cor- poraliter, <& conuentu nefano mteresse, & lisec sententia est multo commumor Thoologorum, imo & lunsconsultorum Italiac, Hispamae, & Germanise inter Cathohcos ,* hoc idem tenant alu quam plurimi. Turrecremata super Gril- landum, 1 Remigms, 2 Petrus Darmanus, 3 Siluester Abulensis, 4 * Caietanus* Alphonsus a Castro 6 Sixtus Sononsis 7 Crospetus 8 Spmeus 9 contra Ponzimbium, Ananias, 10 & alii quam plurimi, quo© breuitatis gratia omitto. Per Fratrem Franctscum Mariam Guaccium Ord. S. Ambi osu ad Ne?nus Mediolani com- pilatum. Mediolani. Ex Collegu Ambrosiam Typographia. 1626.

82 De Strigibus, II. I have used the reprint, 1669, which is given in the valuable collection appended to the Malleus Maleficarum of that date, 4 vols 4to.

03 Ad quam congregationem sen ludum proof at so pestiferae personae uadunt corporahter & uigilantes ac in proprns earu sensibus & quando uadunt ad loca propmqua uadunt peclesties mutuo se muicem muitantes Si aute habent congregan m aliquo loco distanti tunc deferuntur a diabolo, & quomodocunque uadant ad dictum locum srae pedibus suis sme adferantur a diabolo ueru est quod realiter et ueracitor & no phatastice, noquo illusoru abnegant fide cathohcam, adorant diabolum, conculcant crucem, & plura nefandissixna opprobna committunt contra sacratissimum Corpus Christi, ac alia plura spur cuss ima perpotrant cum ipso diabolo ois in specie hum ana apparent!, & se mris succubura, mulieri bus autom incubum exhibenti.

81 Goorgo Garuiillon, la nuict dVn Ieudy Samct, demeura dans son hct, commo mort, pour Fospaco do trois heuros, & puis reumt a soy on sursaut. II a depuis ost6 bruslc on co liou auoc son pore & vno slenne scour.

85 Chapitre xvi. Commo, & en quollo fagon los Sorciers son! portoz au Sabbat.

1. Ils y sont poitez tantost sur ym baston, ou ballet, tantost sur un mouton

ou bouc , <fb tantost par un homme noir .

2. Quelquejois ils se jrotlet de gratsse , cfb & <'Vauires non.

3. II y en a, lesquels lies tans pas Gordeys, db Festans frottez, ne delaisscnt

pas d'estre transportez au Sabbat , & la y aison.

4. L'onguent , db la graisse ne scruent de rien aux Borders , pour leur

transport au Sabbat.

5. Lgs Sorciers soyil quelquejois portez au Sabbat par un vent <& tourbillon .

Chapitre xvii. Les Sorciers vont quelques fois do pied au Sabbat.

Chapitro xvni. Si los Sorciers vont on amo soulement au Sabbat.

1 & 3. Uajjirmatme, db exeynples.

2. Indices, par lesquels on pent coniecturer, qu'vne certaine femme estoit

au Sabbat en ame settlement.

4. La negatiue.

5. Gomme s'entend ce que Voyi dit d'Emchtho, & d'Apollonius lesquels

resusciterent Vun un soldat , db Vautre une ieune Jille.

6. Les Sorciers ne peuuent resusciter un mort , db exemples.

7. Non plus que Us heretiques db exemples.

8. Opiyiion de VAuiheur sur le suiect de ce chapitre ,

9. Satan endort le plus souuent les personnes , db exemples .

1 7>e haereticis et sortilea%is Lugduni. 1530.

2 Nicolas Remy, De la chknonoldtne.

  • Eplstolarum, IV. 17.

4 Silvester of Avila

6 Toramaso tie Vio Gactani. o r 1409-1534.

o Alfonso de Castro. Friar Minor. (1495-1558). Confessor to Charles V and Philip II of Spain.

7 Sisfco da Siena, o r. Bibliotheca Sancta . . . (Liber V): Secunda editio. Franc of urti. 1575, folio

8 P£re Crespet, Celestine monk. Deux limes de la Mine de Satan et des malins esprits contre Vhomme. Palis. 1590

9 B&rtkolomeo Spina, o r. De lamiis De slngibus. Both folio, Venice, 1584. Apologies tres aduersm Joannem Fmnciscum Ponzimbium Jwispentum Venice. 1525. Giovanni Fran¬ cesco Ponzinibio wrote a Dedamhs of which I have used a late edition Venice, 1584.

1° Qioyanm Lorerpso Anania, De natura da^mortum: lihrl iiU- Venetiis. 1581. 8 vq.


168 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Chapitre xix.

1. Les Sorciers vont enuiron la minuict au Sabbat.

2. La raison pourquoy le Sabbat si tient ordtnairemeni dc nuict.

3. Satan se plait aux tenebres , dk A la couleur notre , c&tant au coninaire

la blancheur agreable & Dieu,

4. Los Somers dansent doz centre doz au Sabbat , db se masquent pour

la plus part.

5, 8. Le coq venant A chanter » le Sabbat disparoit aussi tost , db la laison.

6. La voix du coq funeste A Satan tout amsi qu'au lyon , db au serpent .

7. JSe Lemon , seZcw quelques uns a crainte d'vne espee nue .

Ghapitre xx. Du lour du Sabbat.

1. Le Sabbat se Uent d un chacun iour de la semaine, mais principalement

le leudy.

2. II se tient encor auxfestcs les plus solemnelles de Vannde .

Ghapitre xxi. Du lieu du Sabbat.

1. Le lieu du Sabbat est signal4, selon aucuns, de quelques arbres ou Men

de quelques croix, db Vopmion de Vautheur sur ce suiect .

2. Chose remarquable d'vn lieu pretendu pour le Sabbat.

3. Ilfaut de Veau au lieu , oti se tient le Sabbat , db pourquoy .

4. Les Sorciers, A faute d'eau, urinent dans un trou, qu'Us font enterre .

Ghapitre xxii. Do ce qui se fait au Sabbat.

1. Les Sorciers y adorent Satan , estdt en forme d'homme noir , ou de bouc , dk

luy off rent des chandelles, db le baisent aux pa? ties honteuses de derriere .

2. Its y dansent » db de leurs danses .

3. JZa se desbordent en ioutes sortes de tub? icitez, dk comma Satan se fait

Incube dk Succube .

4. Incestes , db paillardises exec? ebles des Euchites db Cnostiqucs,

5. Lee Sorciers banquettent au Sabbat , dc /cure viandes, dk brewuages, dk

de lafaqon quhls tiennent A benir la table , db d rendre graces .

6. IZs ne prennent cepcndant point de gout aux Viandes , db sorient ordinaire-

ment aucc f aim du ? epas .

7. Lc repas paracheud. Us rendent conte dc leurs actions A Satan.

8. Ife rcnoncent de nouueau A Dieu, au Chresme, dbc. Et comma Satan

les sollicite A mal faire .

9. Ife y font la gresle.

10 I Is y celebrant masse , db dc Zewn? chappes, dk eau heniie.

11. Satan se consume fmalement en feu, dk se redmt en cendrc, de luquelle

les Sorciers prennent tons, db a quel effet .

12. Satan Singe de Lieu en tout .

00 Youloir donner une description du Sabbat, c’ost vouloir decriro co qui n’existe point, & n’a jamais subsists quo dans Pimagmation crouso & sbdiute des Sorciers & Sorcieres ; les pemtures qu’ori nous on fait, sent d’aprba los reveries de ceux <fc de cellos qui s’imaginont d’etre transport6s A travors les airs au Sabbat en corps & en ame. Traitd sur les Appantions des Esprits, par le R. P. Dom Augustin Calmet, Abb6 de Sdnonos. Paris, 1751, I. p. 138.

67 See the woodcut upon the title-page of Middleton & Rowley’s The World tost at Tennis , 4to, 1020.

Do Lancro, V Incredulity p. 7G9.

6 9 Boguet, Discours des Sorciers .

70 Do Lancro, Tableau , p. 217.

71 Do Lancro, IS Incredulity p. 800.

72 Gorros, La Mystique Divine , traduit par Charles Sainto-Foi, V. vui. 19,

p. 208.

70 Georgo Smclar, Satan's Divisible World Discovered , Relation XVII.

74 La Mystique Divine , 1902 (Nouvollo Edition). 111. p. 381.

78 Tractatus, xxi. c. 11. P. xi. n. 179.

76 Disquisitiones Magicm, Lib. II. q to x.

77 Compendium Maleficarum, p. 78,


THE SABBAT


160


78 Solent ad conuentum delates daemonem conuentus prscsidem in solio considentem forma temfica, ut plurimum hirci uol canis, obuorso ad ilium tergo accedentes, adorare . . . et delude, homagu quod est indicium, osculari oum in podice.” 1 Guazzo notes : “ Ad signum homagii deemonem podice osculantur.” 2 And Ludwig Elich says : “ Domde quod homagii est indicium (honor sit auribus) ab iis mgerenda sunt oscula Deemonis podici.” 3

79 Mystery of Witchcraft.

80 It may bo remembered that, as related elsewhere, there is strong reason to suppose Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell, grandson of James V, was “ the Devil ” on this occasion, as he was certainly the Grand Master of the witches and the convener of the Sabbat.

81 Nerves from Scotland , declaring the damnable Life of Doctor Fian. London. W. Wright. [1592].

82 Dudum ad audientiam nostram peruenit, quod uenerabilis frater noster G. Conuentrensis et Lichefeldensis episcopus ©rat in regno Anghae et alibi public© defamatur quod diabolo homagium fecerat et eum fuerat osculatus in tergo eique locutus multotius.

8i Confessa ledit sire Guillaume . . . avoir fait hommage audit erniemy en l’esp&ce et semblance d’ung mouton en le baisant par le fondement en sign© de r4vdrence et d’hommage. Jean Ghartier, Chromque de Charles VII (ed. Vallet de Vmville). Pans, 1858. III. p. 45. Shadwell, who has intro¬ duced this ceremony into The Lancashire Witches > II, (The Scene Sir Edward's Cellar), in his notes refers to st Doctor Edlin , . » who was burned for a Witch.”

84 Reliquiae Antiques, vol. I. p. 247.

86 II a veu [le diable] quelquo fols on formo d’hommo, tenant son cheval par le from, & qu’ils le vont adorer tonans vue chandello de poix noir on leurs mains, le baisent quelquo fois au nombnl, quolque fois au cul. De Lancre, L' Incredulity, p. 25.

86 Turn candohs picois oblatis, vol vmbilico mfantili, ad signum homagii eum in podice osculantur, Liber I. xni.

87 Satan's Invisible World Discovered, Eolation III.

88 . . . qui apparait 14, tantost on forme dVn grand liorame noir, tantost en formo do bouc, So pour plus grand hommage, ils luy offrent dos chandelles, qui rendent vne flamme de couleur bleuo. JDiscours dee Borders , p. 131.

et&e \tipa Ka\7] yevolyvjv ihc^avrivt},

ml ye Kakol walbes <p£poav Ato vtimov et %o pbv*

(Fain would I be a fair lyre of ivory, and fair boys carrying ino to Dionysus* choir.)

90 Soquuntur his choree quas in girum agitant semper tamon ad lseuam progrediendo. Compendium Maleftcarum, I. xni.

91 Los Sorciers, dansent & font leurs danees en rond doz contre doz.

92 Quolquefois, mais rarement, ils dansent deux 4 deux, So par lois l’vn 94 & 1’autre 14, So tousiours en confusion.

98 On n’y dan$oit que trois sortes de bransles. ... La premiere e’est 4 la Bohemienne. , . . La second© o’est 4 sauts: ces deux sont ©n rond. Sir John Davies in his Orchestra or A Poeme on Dauncing , London, 18mo, 1596, describes the seven movements of the Cransles (Crawls) as :

Upward and downeward , forth and back againe.

To this side and to that , and turning round .

94 II. 1,

96 Sinclar, Satin's Invisible World Discovered, III.

96 Newes from Scotland, (1592).

97 Tota turba colluuiesquo pessima fescenninos in honorom dsemonum cantat obscemssimos. Hscc cantat Harr, harr ; ilia Diabolo, Diabole, salta hue, salta illuc; altera lude hie, lude iliic; alia Sabaoth, Sabaoth, &c.;

1 Disquisiiiones Magiem, Lib. II. ato xvl.

Compendium Malrflcanm, I. 13.

  • Pmmmormaia* Quceetis x.


170 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

immo clamoribus, sibilis, ululatibus, propicinis furit ac debaechatur. Dcemonomagia , Quasstio x.

08 Hi habent mensas appositas & instructas accumbunt & incipiunt conuiuari de cibis quos Daemon suppeditat uel us quos smguh attulore, Compendium Maleficarum , I. xm.

99 Les Imres disenfc que les sorciers mangont au Sabbat do c© quo le Diable lour a appreste : mais bien souuet il ne s’y trouae quo dos viandos qu’ils out port© eux mesmes, Parfois il y a plusieurs tables soruios do bons viuros & d’autres fois d© tres meschans u Los Sorciers . . . banquottent & s© festoient,” remarks Boguot, “lour banquets estans composes; de plusioura sortes d© viandes, selon los lieux & qualitez dos personnes.” Tableau , p. 197. Discows des Sorciers , p. 135.

100 Smclar, Invisible World Discovered, Relation XXIX.

101 Ila banquetent, dressant tiois tables selon les trois diversity dos gens susnommes. Ceux qui out la chargo du pam, its portent 1© pam qu’ils font d© bl6 derobe aux airow mvisiblemont on divers lioux. Us boivent do la malvoisie, pour eschauffor la chair a la luxure, quo los deputes portent, la d^robant des cavos oh ©11© so trouvo 11s y mangont ordinairomont do la chair dos potits enfants qu© los deputes emsent ii la Synagogue ot parfois les y portent tout vifs, los dorobant a lours maisons quand ils trouvont la commodity. Pore S3 bastion, Michael is, o.F. Histoire admirable de la possession, 1613.

102 On y boit aussi du vin, et le plus sou vent do l’eau.

103 Conuiuant do oibis a so uol a diomone allatis, intordum dolicatissimis, et interdum insipidis ex mfantibus occisis aut oadauoribus oxhumatis, precedent© tamen benediction© mensao tali coetu digna. Salamanlicenses, Tr. xxi. c. 11. P. 11. n. 179.

104 Uinum eorum praoterea instar atri atquo insincori sanguinis in sordid© aliquo scipho epulonibus sohtum propmari. Nullam for© copiam rorum illic deesse afferunfc pr&sterqua panss et salis. Addit Dominica Isabella apponi etiam humanas cames Compendium Malejicarum, I. xni.

105 De la IMmonomanie, III. 5.

100 Dcemonomagio, Qiurstio vu.

107 II n’y a jamais sol on ces repas. Discours des Sorciers .

108 On se met & table, oil il n’a lamais veu do sel.

Shadwell draws attention to this detail: The Lancashire Witches, II, the Sabbat seen© ; whoro Mother Domelike says :

Se© our Provisions ready here.

To which no Salt must e’er como near !

109 P6re S6bastion Michaelis, o.p. Histoire admirable , 1613.

110 Isti uero qui oxprossam profossionom focerimt, reddunt otiam expression eultum adorationis dseraoni per solemnia sacrifieia, quae ipsi faciunt diabolo, imitantes in omnibus diuinum eultum, cum paramentis, luminaribus, ot aliis humsmodi, ac precibus quibusdam ot orationibus qmbus instructi sunt, adeo ipsum adorant et collaudant continue, sicut nos uorum Creatorom adoramus. De Sortilegiis, Liber IT. c. in. n. 6.

111 The Wonders of the Invisible World. A Hortatory Address, p. 81.

112 J. Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts Bay , II. p. 55. (1828.)

113 Euchologion of the Orthodox Church, ed. Venice, 1898, p. 63.

114 Baissac, Lea grands jours de la Sorcellerie (1890), p. 391.

110 Calmeil, De la folic, I. p. 344.

116 Sebastian Michaelis, Histoire admirable . 1613. Translated as Admirable Hislorie . London, 1613.

117 Desmarost, Histoire de Magdelaine Bavent. Paris. 4to. 1652.

118 For full details se© Francis Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille , Paris, 1873, where the original depositions are given.

1X9 L&*Ba$ appeared in the Echo de Paris „ 1890-1.

180 Tableau , p. 401. For tho full account of those ceremonies I have chiefly relied upon Guazzo j Boguet, Discours , XXII, 10 ; De Lancre, pp, 86, 122, 126, 129 ; and Gorres, Mystique , V. pp. 224-227. It hardly seems necessary to give particular citations here for each circumstance,


THE SABBAT


171


121 Do Lancro, Tableau, IV. 4.

122 Cornere Nazionale di Torino, Maggio. 1895

123 Do Lancro, Tableau, p. 401,

124 (Torres, Mystique, Y. p, 230.

125 Roland Brevannes, L’Orgie Satanique , IV. L© Sabbat, p. 122.

126 Discours, p 141.

127 S. Caleb, Messes Nones, p. 153.

128 Confession faicte par Messire Loys Gaufridi, A Aix. MVCXI.

129 A vn© Chasuble qui a vn© croix ; mais qu’elle n’a que trois barres

130 Le Diable on rnesme temps pisse dans vn trou a terre, & fait d© Feau beniste de son vrxne, de laquelle celuy, qm dit la messe, arrouse tons les assistants auec vn asperges noir. Boguet, Discours , p. 141.

131 .. . lors que Tramesabot disoit la Messe, <& qu’auant la commencor h xettoit de 1’eau bemste qui estoit faicto d© pissat, & faisoit la reverence de Pespaule, & disoit Asperges Diaboh . De Lancre, ITInci eduhtL

132 L’eau beniste est laune comm© du pissat d’asne, Sc qu’apres qu’on la iettee on dit la Messe.

133 Michaehs Histoire admirable , 1613. Miss Murray, The Witch-Cult, p 149, suggests that this sprinkling was “ a fertility rite ” ! An astounding theory. This blasphemy, of course, alludes to the curse of tho Jews. S. Matthew xxvn 25.

134 Quo le Diable dit le Sermo au Sabbat, mais qu’on n’entend ce qu’il dit, parce qu’il paxle come on grddant. Which suggests the wearing of a mask, or, at least, a voice purposely disguised.

135 Dit qu’il a veu bailler au Sabbat du pam benist & de I’encens, mais il ne sentoit bon comme celuy do I’Eghse

136 So m tho Orleans trial Gentii le Clorc confessed that tho Devil “ tourne le dos 4 I’Autel quand il veut louer 1’Hostie Sc le Cal ice, qui sont rioirs ”

137 Silvam Novillon, (1614-1615). Dit aussi auoir veu des Sorciers & Sorciores qui apportoiont des Hosties au Sabbat, losquelles ©lies auoient garde lors qu’on leur auoit bailld 4 communior 4 l’Egliso.

138 Presumably S. Caesanus of Arles, 470-543, who incidentally was famous for eradicating the last traces of Pagan superstitions and practices. He imposed the penalty of excommunication upon all those who consulted augurs and wore heathen amulets. Tho Gnostics were especially notorious for their employment of such periapts, talismans, and charms.

138 J. F. Blad£, Quatorze superstitions populaires de la Gascogne, pp. ISsqq, Agen. 1883.

140 Decisions, Edinburgh, 1759.

141 le laisse 4 penser si 1’on n’exerce pas 14 toutes les especes de lubricitds veu encor que les abominations, qui firent foudre Sc ahismer Sodome Sc Gomorrhe, y font fort communes. Boguet, Discours, c. xxii. p, 137.

142 Histoire admirable , 1613.

143 Fmalement, ils paillardent ensemble : le dirnanche avec les diablos succubes ou incubes; le jeudi, commettent la sodomie; le samedi la bestiality ; les autres jours 4 la vole naturelle.

144 The Louviers process lasted four years, 1643-7.

145 Apr5s la Messe on dance, puis on coucho ensemble, horames auec homines. Sc auee des femmes. Puis on se met a table. . . . Dit qu’ii a cognu des hommes & s’est accoupl4 auec eux ; quTl auoit vne couppe on gondoll© par le moyen de laquelle toutes les femmes le suiuoient pour y boire.

146 Apres la danse fmie les diables se eoucheret auecques ©lies. Sc euret leur copagnie.

147 .. . grand nombre d’hommes Sc femmes furent bruslees en la ville d’Arras, accusees les vns par les autres, Sc cofesserent qu’elles estoient la nuict transportees aux danses, Sc puis qu’ils se couploient auecques les diables, qu’ils adoroient en figure humaine.

148 . . . toutes generalement sans exception, confessoient que le diable auoit copulation charnelle auec ©lies, apres lour auoir fait renoncer Dieu Sc leur religion.

140 . c’est 4 s^auoir que les diables, tat qu’elles auoient est© Sorcieres,


172 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


auoif'/ eu copulation auoc dies. Henry de Cologne confirmant costo opinion dit, qu’il y a nen plus vulgaire on Alemaigne.

150 .. . quod sacnficia dabant damombus in animalibus uiuis, qua diuidebant membratun et offerobant distnbuondo in inferno quadroons cmdam daemoni qui so facit appellan Artis F ilium ox pauporionbus inform. Dame Alice Kytekr, od. T. Wright. Camden Society. 1843. pp. 1-2.

151 Highland Papers, III. p. 18.

383 ASneid, VI. 243-251

163 Horace, Semonum, I. viii.

151 Didiomaire Infernal, ed. 1863, p. 590.

155 Salguos, Des meurs d des prejugis, I, p. 423.

188 III. 44-45.

167 Alludit ad Haruspicis officium, qui exta & viscera inspieiobat. Plinius inquit: Ex ranee rubetce uiscenbus; id est, lingua, osrnulo, hone, corde, mira fieri posse constat, sunt enin plurimis medicamnibus njerta Forte intolligit rubetam uel bufonom, indicans se non esse uonoficum, noc rubotarum oxtis uti ad uonofica. Cf. also Pliny, Bistoria Naturalis, XXXII. 5.

158 Ravaisson, Archives de la Bastille, VI. p. 295 et alibi, The interrogatories of those scandals may be found m volumes IV and V of this work.

150 L. Strackorjan, Aberglaube md Sagen aus dem Henoglhum Oldenburg (1867), 1. 70.

160 Konigsberger Hartung’sche Zeitmg, 1866. No. 9.

161 V. Fossel. Volksmedicin und medkinischer Aberglaube in Steiemark, Grins, 1886.

182 U. Jahn, Zauber mit Menschenblut md anderen Teilen des menschlichen Kbrpers, 1888.

188 A. Lowonstimm, Aberglaube und Strafccht, (Die Volkmedizin), 1897.

164 V. Fossel, Volksmedicin, ut supra.

165 Adrian Kembter, O.R.P., writing in 1745 enumerates 52 instances, and his last is datod 1650. This number might bo doublod, and extends until tho prosont century. H. C. Leo, m an article, El santo nino de la Guardia, has signally failed to disprove tho account. Soo the series of forty-four articles in tho Ossemtore Oattolieo March and April, 1892, Nos. 8438-8473.

186 Le Temps, Pans, 1 Fob. and 23 March, 1892.

187 FeticUsm m Vest Africa, Now York, 1904.

188 Do Lancro, Tableau, p. 154.


CHAPTER V


The Witch in Holy Writ

In the course of the Holy Scriptures there occur a great number of words and expressions which are employed in connexion with witchcraft, divination, and demonology, and of these more than one authority has made detailed and particular study. Some terms are of general import, one might even venture to say vague and not exactly defined, some are directly specific: of some phrases the signification is plain and accepted; concerning others, scholars arc still undecided and differ more or less widely amongst them¬ selves. Yet it is noteworthy that from the very earliest period the attitude of the inspired writers towards magic and related practices is almost wholly condemnatory and uncom¬ promisingly hostile. The vehement and repeated denuncia¬ tions launched against the professors of occult sciences and the initiate in foreign esoteric mysteries do not, moreover, seem to be based upon any supposition of fraud but rather upon the “ abomination ” of the magic in itself, which is recognized as potent for evil and able to wreak mischief upon life and limb. It is obvious, for example, that the opponents of Moses, the sorcerers 1 Jannes and Mambres, were masters of no mean learning and power, since when, in the presence of Pharaoh, Aaron’s rod became a live serpent, they also and their mob of disciples “ fecerunt per incantationes JEgyptiacas et arcana qusedam similiter,” casting down their rods, which were changed into a mass of writhing snakes. They were able also to bring up frogs upon the land, but it was past their wit to drive them away. We have here, however, a clear acknowledgement of the reality of magic and its dark possibilities, whilst at the same time prominence is given to the fact that when it contests with the miraculous power divinely bestowed upon Moses it fails hopelessly and com¬ pletely. The serpent, which was Aaron’s rod, swallows all

173


174 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

the other serpents. The swarms of mosquitoes and gadflies which Aaron caused to rise in myriads from the dust the native warlocks could not produce, nay, they were con¬ strained to cry “ Digitus Dei est hie 99 ; whilst a little later they were unable to protect even their own bodies from the pest of blains and swelling sores. None the less a super¬ natural power was possessed by Janncs and Mambres as truly as by Moses, although not to the same extent, and derived from another, in fact, from an opposite and antagonistic source.

Even more striking is the episode of Balaam, who dwelt at Pethor, a city of Mesopotamia (the Pitru of the cuneiform texts), and who was summoned thence by Balak, King of Moab, to lay a withering curse upon the Israelites, encamped after their victory over the Amorrhites at the very confines of his territory. The royal messengers come to Balaam “ with the rewards of divination in their hand, 55 a most illuminating detail, for it shows that already the practice of magical arts is rewarded with gifts of great value. 2 In fact when Balaam refuses, although with reluctance, to accompany the first embassy, princes of the highest rank are then sent to him with injunctions to offer him rank and wealth or whatsoever he may care to ask. “ I will promote thee to very great honour, and I will do whatsoever thou sayesi unto me; come, therefore, and curse this people, 55 are the king’s actual words. After great difficulties, for Balaam is, at first, forbidden to go and only wins his way on condition that he undertakes to do what he is commanded and to speak no more than he is inspired to say, the seer commences his journey and is met by the king at a frontier town, and by him taken up ct unto the high places of Baal,” to the sacred groves upon the hill-tops, where seven mystic altars are built, and a bullock and a ram offered upon each. Balaam then senses the imminent presence of God, and withdraws swiftly apart to some secret place where u God met 99 him. He returns to the scene of sacrifice and forthwith blesses the Israelites. Balak in consternation and dismay hurries him to the crest of Pisgah (Phasga), and the same ceremonies are performed. But again Balaam pours forth benisons upon the people. A third attempt is made, and this time was chosen the summit of Peor (Phogor), a peculiarly sacred sanctuary, the


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT 175

centre of the local cult of Baal Peor, whose ancient worship comprised a ritual of most primitive obscenity. 3 Again the sevenfold sacrifice is offered upon seven altars, and this time Balaam deliberately resists the divine control, a vain endeavour, since he passes into trance, and utters words of ineffable benediction gazing down the dim avenues of futurity to the glorious vision of the Madonna, Stella Jacob, and her Son, the Sceptre of Israel. Beating his clenched hands together in an access of ungovernable fury the choused and exasperated king incontinently dismisses his guest.

It must be remarked that throughout the whole of this narrative, the details of which are as interesting as they are significant, there is on the part of the writer a complete recognition of the claims put forth by Balaam and so amply acknowledged and appreciated by Balak. Balaam was a famous sorcerer, and one, moreover, who knew and could launch the mystic Word of Power with deadly effect. Among the early Arabs as among the Israelites the magic spell, the Word of Blessing or the Curse, played a prominent part. In war, the poet, by cursing the enemy in rhythmic runes, rendered services not inferior to the heroism of the warrior himself. So the Jews of Medina used to bring into their synagogues images of their hated enemy Malik b. al-Aglam ; and aixthese effigies they hurled maledictions each time they met. The reality of Balaam’s power is clearly the key-note of the Biblical account. Else why should his services be transferred to the cause of Israel ? Balak’s greeting to the seer is no empty compliment but vitally true : “ I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed.” Not impertinent is the bitter denunciation in the song of Deborah, Judges v. 28, “ Curse ye me Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty ! ” (A.V.) Belief in the potency of the uttered word has existed at .all times and in all places, and yet continues to exist everywhere to-day.

Although Balaam prophesied it must be borne in mind that he was not a prophet in the Scriptural sense of the term ; he was a soothsayer, a wizard; the Vulgate has hariolus / which is derived from the Sanskrit him, entrails, and


176 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


equivalent to haruspeoc. This term originally denoted an Etruscan diviner who foretold future events by an inspection of the entrails of sacrificial victims. It was from the Etruscans that this practice was introduced to the Romans. It is probable that Balaam employed the seven bullocks and rams in this way, the technical extispicium , a method of inquiry and forecasting which seems to have been almost universal, although the exact manner in which the omens were read differed among the several peoples and at various times. It persisted, none the less, until very late, and indeed it is resorted to, so it has been said, by certain occultists even at the present day. It is known to have been practised by Catherine de’ Medici, and it is closely connected with the dark Voodoo worship of Jamaica and HaytL S. Thomas, it is true, has spoken of Balaam as a prophet, but the holy doctor hastens to add “ a prophet of the devil.” The learned Cornelius a Lapide, glossing upon Numbers xxii and xxiii writes : “ It is clear that Balaam was a prophet, not of God, but of the Devil. . . . He was a magician, and he sought for a conference with his demon to take counsel with him.” 6 He is of opinion that the seven altars were erected in honour of the Lords of the Seven Planets. Seven is, of course, the perfect number, the mystic number, even as three ; and all must be done by odd numbers. The woman in Vergil who tries to call back her estranged lover Daphnis by potent incantations cries: numero deus impure gaudet* (Heaven loves unequal numbers.) Eclogue viii. 75 (Pharmaceulria). S. Augustine, S. Ambrose, and Theodoret consider that when Balaam on the first occasion withdrew hastily saying ct Peradventure the Lord will come to meet me,” he expected to meet a demon, his familiar. But u God met Balaam.” The very precipitation and disorder seem to point to the design of the sorcerer, for as in the Divine Liturgy all is done with due dignity, grace, and comeliness, so in the functions of black magic all is hurried, ugly, and terrible.

One of the most striking episodes in the Old Testament is concerned with necromancy, the appearance of Samuel in the cave or hut at Endor. Saul, on the eve of a tremendous battle with the Philistines, is much dismayed and almost gives away to a complete nervous collapse as he sees the


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT 177

overwhelming forces of the ruthless foe. To add to his panic, when he consulted the Divine Oracles, no answer was returned, 44 neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 5 ’ And although he had in the earlier years of his reign shown himself a determined represser of Witchcraft, in his dire extremity he catches at any straw, and bids his servants seek out some woman 44 that hath a familiar spirit, 55 and his servants said to him, 44 Behold there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor, 55 which is a miserable hamlet on the northern slope of a hill, lying something south of Mount Tabor.

The phrase here used, rendered by the Vulgate 44 pytho 55 (Quserite mihi mulierem habentem pythonem) and by the Authorized Version 4C familiar spirit, 55 is in the original 5 dfeA, 6 which signifies the departed spirit evoked, and also came to stand for the person controlling such a spirit and divining by its aid. The Witch of Endor is described as the possessor of an ’6bh. The LXX. translates this word by eyyacrrpdjuLvdog , which means ventriloquist, either because the real actors thought that the magician’s alleged communication with the spirit was a mere deception to impose upon the inquirer who is tricked by the voice being thrown into the ground and being of strange quality—a view which mightily com¬ mends itself to Lenormant 7 and the sceptical Renan 8 but which is quite untenable—or rather because of the belief common in antiquity that ventriloquism was not a natural faculty but due to the temporary obsession of the medium by a spirit. In this connexion the prophet Isaias has a remarkable passage : Quserite a pythonibus, et a diuinis qui strident in incantationibus suis. (Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and that mutter. A.V.) Many Greek and Latin poets attribute a peculiar and distinctive sound to the voices of spirits. Homer (Iliad, XXIII, 101 ; Odyssey, XXIV, 5, and 9) uses rpigew, ^jvhich is elsewhere found of the shrill cry or chirping of partridges, young swallows, locusts, mice, bats, 9 and of such other sounds as the creaking of a door, the sharp crackling of a thing burned in a fire. Vergil JEneid , III, 89, speaks of the cry of Polydorus from his grave as gemitus lacrimabilis, and the clamour of the spirits in Hades is uox exigua . Horace also in his description of the midnight Esbat on the Esquiline

N


178 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


describes the voice as triste et acutum; (Sermonum, I. viii, 40-1) :

singula quid memorem, quo pacto altcrna loquentes

umbrae cum Sagana resonarent triste et acutum.

Statius, Thebais, VII, 770, has 66 stridunt animae,” upon which Kaspar von Barth, the famous sixteenth-century German scholar, annotates “ Homericum hoc est qui corporibus excedentes animas stridere exeogitauit.” So in Shakespeare’s well-known lines, Hamlet I, 1 :

the sheeted dead

Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.

When he had been informed of this witch Saul, accordingly, completely divested himself of the insignia of royalty and in a close disguise accompanied only by two of his most trusted followers similarly muffled in cloaks, he painfully made his way at dead of night to her remote and squalid hovel. He eagerly requested her to exercise her powers, and to raise the spirit of the person whom he should name. At first she refused, since some years before the laws had been stringently enforced and the penalty of death awaited all sorcerers and magicians. Not unreasonably she feared that these mysterious strangers might be laying a trap for her, to imperil her life. But the concealed king persuaded her, and bound himself by a mighty oath that she should come to no harm. Whereupon she consented to evoke the soul of the prophet Samuel, as he desired. The charm commenced, and after the vision of various familiars—the woman said : Decs nidi ascendentes de terra—and S. Gregory of Nyssa explains these as demons, t« ^ai/rdcr/xara,—Samuel appeared amid circumstances of great terror and awe, and in the same moment the identity of her visitant was recognized (we arc not informed how) by the sybil. 10 In a paroxysm of rage and fear the haggard crone turned to him and shrieked out: et Y^hy hast thou deceived me ? For thou art Saul,” The king, however, tremblingly reassured her for her own safety, and feeling that he was confronted by no earthly figure—he could not see the phantom, although he sensed a presence from beyond the grave—he asked: u What form is he of ? ” And when the beldame, to whom alone the prophet was visible, described the spirit i u An old man cometh up, and he is


170


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT

covered with a mantle , 55 Saul at once recognized Samuel, and fell prostrate upon the ground, whilst the apparition spake his swiftly coming doom.

Here we have a detailed scene of necromancy proper There are, it is true, some remarkable, and perhaps unusual, features : the witch alone sees the phantom, but Saul instantly knows who it is from her description ; he directly addresses Samuel, and he hears the prediction of the dead prophet. The whole narrative undoubtedly bears the impress of actuality and truth*

There are several interpretations of these incidents. In the first place some ■writers have denied the reality of the vision, and so it is claimed that the witch deceived Saul by skilful trickery. This hardly seems possible. It is not likely that she would have run so grave a risk as the exercise, or pretended exercise, of magical arts must entail were she a mere charlatan ; an accomplice of remarkably quick wit and invention would have been necessary to carry out the details of the plot; it is surely incredible that they should have ventured upon so uncompromising a denunciation of the king and have foretold so evil an end to his house* In fact the whole tenor of the story conflicts with this explanation, which is not allowed by the Fathers, Theodoret, it is true, inclines to suppose that some deception was practised, but he hesitates to maintain an unequivocal opinion in the matter. In his Qucestiones in I Regum Cap* xxviii he asks irm rra icara rrjv eyyaa-TplfxvQov vorjirlov ; n and says that some think that the witch actually evoked Samuel, others believe the Devil took the likeness of the prophet. The first opinion he characterizes as impious, the second foolish.

S. Jerome, whose authority would, of course, be entirely conclusive, does not perhaps pronounce definitely; but his comments sufficiently show, I think, that he regarded the apparition as being really Samuel. In his tractate In Esaiam , III, vii, he writes ; “Most authors think that a clear sign was given Saul from the earth itself and from the very depths of Hades when he saw Samuel evoked by incantations and magic spells . 5912 And again, In Ezechielem , Lib. IY ; xiii, the holy doctor, speaking of witches, has t “ they are inspired by an evil spirit. The Hebrews say that they are well versed in baleful crafts, necromancy and soothsaying®,


180 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


such as was the hag who seemed to raise up the soul of Samuel. 5 ’ 13

Some authors directly attribute this appearance of Samuel to an evil spirit, who took the form of the prophet in order to dishearten Saul and tempt him to despair. Thus S. Gregory of Nyssa in his letter De pythonissa ad Theodosium 14 says that the Devil deceived the witch, who thus in her turn deceived the king, S. Basil expressly lays down (In Esaiam , VIII, 218) : “ They were demons who assumed the appear¬ ance of Samuel. 5515 And he conjectures that, inasmuch as the denunciation of Saul was strictly true in every detail, the demons having heard the sentence delivered by God merely reported it. Among the Latins Tertullian, more than a century before, had written : “ And I believe that evil spirits can deceive many by their lies; for a lying spirit was allowed to feign himself to be the shade of Samuel.” 16

The preponderance of opinion, however, is decidedly in favour of a literal and exact understanding of the event, that it was, in effect, Samuel who appeared to the guilty monarch and foretold his end. Origen argues upon these lines, basing his reasons upon the plain statements of Holy Writ: tc But it is distinctly stated that Saul knew it was Samuel.” 17 And later he adds : cc The Scripture cannot lie. And the words of Scripture are : And the woman saw Samuel.” 18 Elsewhere when treating of evil spirits he precisely states : 4 6 And that souls have their abiding place I have made known to you from the evocation by the witch of Samuel, when Saul requested her to divine.” 19 S. Ambrose also says : “ Even after liis death Samuel, as Holy Scripture informs us, pro¬ phesied of what was to come.” 30 We have further the overwhelming witness of S. Augustine, who in more than one place discusses the question at some length, and decides that the phantom evoked by the sibyl was really and truly the soul of the prophet Samuel. Thus in that important treatise De Doctrina Christiana , commenced in 897 and finally revised for issue in 427, he has ; “ The shade of Samuel, long since dead, truly foretold what was to come unto King Saul.” 21 Whilst a passage in the even more famous and weighty De Cura pro mortuis gerenda , written in 421, asserts : “ For the prophet Samuel, who was dead, revealed the future to King Saul, who was yet alive.” 22


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT


181


Josephus believed the apparition to have been summoned by the witch’s necromantic powers, for in his Jewish Anti¬ quities, VI, xiv, 2, when dealing with the story of Endor, he chronicles : 44 [Saul] bade her bring up to him the soul of Samuel. She, not knowing who Samuel was, called him out of Hades, 5 ' 23 a remarkable testimony.

Throughout the whole of the Old Testament the sin of necromancy is condemned in the strongest terms, but the very reiteration of this ban shows that none the less evoca¬ tion of the dead was extensively and continuously practised, albeit in the most clandestine and secret manner. The Mosaic law denounces such arts again and again ; 44 Go not aside after wizards, neither ask any thing of soothsayers, to be defiled by them : I am the Lord your God 55 (Leviticus xix. 31) ; 44 The soul that shall go aside after magicians and soothsayers, and shall commit fornication with them, I will set my face against that soul, and destroy it out of the midst of its people 55 (Leviticus xx. 0). Even more explicit in its details is the following prohibition : 44 Neither let there be found among you any one . . . that con suit cth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens, neither let there be any wizard, nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from the dead. For the Lord abhorreth all these things 55 (Deuteronomy xviii. 10-12). Hence it is obvious that the essential malice of the sin lay in the fact that it was lese-majesU against God, such as is also the sin of heresy. 24 This is, moreover, clearly brought out in the fact that the temporal penalty was death. 44 A man, or woman, in whom there is a pythonical or divining spirit, dying, let them die 55 (Leviticus xx. 27). And the famous statute. Exodus xxii. 18, expressly says: 44 Wizards thou shalt not suffer to live. 55 Nevertheless, necromancy persisted, and on occasion, such as during the reign of Manasses, thirteenth king of Juda (692-638 B.c.), 25 it no longer lurked in dark corners and obscene hiding-holes, but flaunted its foul abomination unabashed in the courts of the palace and at noon before the eyes of the superstitious capital. In the days of this monarch divination was openly used, omens observed, pythons publicly appointed, whilst soothsayers multiplied cc to do evil before the Lord, and to provoke Him 55 (4 Kings [2 Kings] xxi. 6). The ghastly rites


182 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

of human sacrifice were revived, and it was common know¬ ledge that the sovereign himself, upon the slightest and most indifferent pretexts, resorted to extispicium, the seeking of omens from the yet palpitating entrails of boys devoted to this horrid purpose. 66 Manasses shed also very much innocent blood, till he filled Jerusalem up to the mouth 35 (4 Kings [2 Kings] xxL 16). We may parallel the foul sorceries of the Jewish king with the detailed confession of Gilles de Rais, who at his trial u related how he had stolen away children, detailed all his foul cajolements, his hellish excitations, his frenzied murders, his ruthless rapes and ravishments : obsessed by the morbid vision of his poor pitiful victims, he described at length their long-drawn agonies or swift torturings ; their piteous cries and the death-rattle in their throats ; he avowed that he had wallowed in their warm entrails ; he confessed that he had torn out their hearts through large gaping wounds, as a man might pluck ripe fruit. 3 ’ 26 The demonolatry of the sixth century before Christ is the same as that of fourteen hundred years after the birth of Our Lord.

As has been previously noticed, Balaam employed bullocks and rams for extispicium, and nine centuries later, in the book of Ezechiel (xxL 21), Esarhaddon is represented as looking at the liver of an animal offered in sacrifice with a view to divination. “ For the king of Babylon stood in the highway, at the head of two ways, seeking divination, shuffling arrows : he inquired of the idols, and consulted entrails. On his right hand was the divination of Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in slaughter. 33 The mode of sortilege by arrows, belomancy, to which allusion is here made was extensively practised among the Chaldeans, as also by the Arabs. Upon this passage S. Jerome comments: “ He shall stand in the highway, and consult the oracle after the manner of his nation, that he may cast arrows into a quiver, and mix them together, being written upon or marked with the names of each people, that he may see whose arrow will come forth, and which city he ought first to attack. 33

Among the three hundred and sixty idols which stood round about the Caaba of Mecca, and which were all destroyed by Mohammed when he captured the city in the eighth year


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT 183

of the Hejira, was the statue of a man, made of agate, who held in one hand seven arrows such as the pagan Arabs used in divination. This figure, which, it is said, anciently represented the patriarch Abraham, was regarded with especial awe and veneration.

The arrows employed by the early Arabs for magical practices were more generally only three in number. They were carefully preserved in the temple of some idol, before whose shrine they had been consecrated. Upon one of them was inscribed cc My Lord hath commanded me ” § upon another “ My Lord hath forbidden me ” § and the third was blank. If the first was drawn the inquirer looked upon it as a propitious omen promising success in the enterprise; if the second were drawn he augured failure ; if the third, all three were mixed again and another trial was made. These divining arrows seem always to have been consulted by the Arabs before they engaged in any important undertaking, as, for example, when a man was about to go upon a particular journey, to marry, to commence some weighty business.

In certain cases and in many countries rods were used instead of arrows. Small sticks were marked with occult signs, thrown into a vessel and drawn out; or, it might be, cast into the air, the direction they took and the position in which they fell being carefully noted. This practice is known as rhabdomancy. The LXX, indeed, Ezechiel xxL 21, has pafiSofiavreca not /SeXo/xai^rc/a, and rhabdomancy is men¬ tioned by S. Cyril of Alexandria.

In the Koran, chapter V, The Table or The Chapter of Contracts, 66 divining arrows ” are said to be st an abomina¬ tion of the work of Satan/ 5 and the injunction is given “ therefore avoid them that ye may prosper/*

It is noticeable that in the early Biblical narrative one form of divination is mentioned, if not with approval, at any rate without overt reproach. Upon the occasion of the second journey of Jacob’s sons to Egypt to buy com in the time of famine, Joseph gave orders that their sacks were to be filled with food, that each man’s money was to be put in the mouth of his sack, but that in the sack of Benjamin was also to be concealed the “ cup, the silver cup.” And the next morning when they had set out homewards and were gone a little way out of the city they were overtaken by a band


184 THE HISTORY QF^ WITCHCRAFT

of Joseph’s servants under the conduct of his steward who arrested their progress and accused them of the theft of the cup : “ Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth ? Ye have done evil in so doing 99 (A. F.). The Vulgate has : 44 Scyphus quem furati estis, ipse est in quo bibit dominus meus et in quo augurari solet: pessimam rem fecistis ” (Genesis xliv. 5). And later when they are brought back in custody and led into the presence of Joseph he asks them : 44 Wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine ? ” Vulgate : 44 An ignoratis quod non sit similis mei in augurandi scientia ? 53

In the first place it cannot be for a moment supposed that Joseph’s claim, which here he so publicly and so emphatically states, to be a diviner of no ordinary powers was a mere device for the occasion. From the prominence given to the cup in the story it is clear that his steward regarded it as a vessel of especial value and import, dight with mysterious properties.

This cup was used for that species of divination known as hydromantia, a practice almost universal in antiquity and sufficiently common at the present day. The seer, or in some cases the inquirer, by gazing fixedly into a pool or basin of still water will see therein reflected as in a mirror a pic¬ ture of that which it is sought to know. Strabo, XVI, 2, 39, speaking of the Persians, writes : irapaSe toi? Trepcrms ol Mayo* icai vefcvofJLavTeig teal €Tt oi Xeyopevot XeKavojuLavTei? /cat vSpofiavT€i 9 - King Numa, according to one very ancient tradition, divined by seeing gods in a clear stream. 44 For Numa himself, not being instructed by any prophet or Angel of God, was fain to fall to hydromancy: making his gods (or rather his devils) to appear in water, and instruct him in his religious institutions. Which kind of divination, says Varro, came from Persia and was used by Numa and afterwards by Pythagoras, wherein they used blood also and called forth spirits infernal. Necromancy, the Greeks call it, but necromancy or hydromancy, whether you like, there it is that the dead seem to speak ” (S. Augustine Be Ciuitate Dei. VII. 35). 27

Apuleius in his Be Magia , 28 quoting from Varro, says : u Trallibus de euentu Mithridatici belli magica percontatione consultantibus puerum in aqua simulacrum Mercuri con-


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT 185

templantem, quse futura erant, centum sexaginta uersibus cecinisse.” In Egypt to-day the Magic Mirror is frequently consulted. A boy is engaged to gaze into a splash of water, or it may be ink or some other dark liquid poured into the palm of the hand, and therein he will assuredly see pietorially revealed the answers to those questions put to him. When a theft has been committed the Magic Mirror is invariably questioned thus. In Scandinavia the country folk, who had lost anything, would go to a diviner on a Thursday night to see in a pail of water who it was had robbed them. 29 All the world over this belief prevails, in Tahiti and among the Hawaiians, in the Malay Peninsula, in New Guinea, among the Eskimos.

Similar forms of divination are those by things dropped into some liquid, a precious stone or rich amulet is cast into a cup, and the rings formed on the surface of the contents were held to predict the future. Again warm wax or molten lead is poured into a vessel of cold water, and significant letters of the alphabet may be spelled out or objects dis¬ cerned from the shapes this wax or lead assumes ; or again, the empty tea-cup is tilted and from the leaves, their size, shape, and the manner in which they lie, prognostications are made. This is common in England, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Lithuania, whilst in Macedonia coffee-dregs are employed in the same manner.

But whether the seer be Hebrew patriarch or Roman king and the divination dignified by some occult name, Cero- mancy (the melting of wax), Lecanomaney (basins of water), Oinomancy (the lees of wine), or whether it be some old plaid- shawled grandam by her cottage fire peering at the leaves of her afternoon tea, the object is the same throughout the ages, for all systems of divination are merely so many methods of obscuring the outer vision, in order that the inner vision may become open.

As was inevitable hydromantia lent itself to much trickery, and Hippolytus of Rome, presbyter and antipope (oh. circa a.d. 286), in his important polemic against heretics, Philoso- phwnena 9 Z0 IV, 85, explains in detail how persons were elaborately duped by the pseudo-magicians. A room was prepared, the roof of which was painted blue to resemble the sky, there was set therein a large vessel full of water


186 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

with a glass bottom, immediately under which lay a secret chamber. The inquirer gazed steadfastly into the water, and the actors walking in the secret chamber below would seem as though they were figures appearing in the water itself.

In view of the severe and general condemnation of magical practices found throughout Holy Writ it is remarkable that the Pentateuchal narrative does not censure Joseph’s hydro- mantic arts. Indeed, except in the book Genesis, it is seldom that any forms of presaging or the use of charms are noted save with stern reprobation. In Isaias iii. 2, however, the Kosem, magician or diviner, is mentioned with singular respect. “ Ecce enim dominator Dominus exercituum auferet a Jerusalem et a Juda ualidum et fortem omne robur panis et omne robur aquae, fortem, et uirum bellatorem, iudicem, et prophetam, et hariolum, et senem. 55 Here the Authorized Version deliberately mistranslates and obscures the sense : “ For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah, the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread and the whole stay of water, the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient. 55 “ The Prudent 95 is by no means a rendering of Kosem which “ hariolus 55 perfectly represents.

In the thirteenth chapter of Genesis we have a most detailed and striking narrative of sympathetic magic. Jacob, who is serving Laban, is to receive as a portion of his hire all the speckled and spotted cattle, all the brown among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. But the crafty old Syrian prevented his son-in-law by removing to a distance, a journey of three days, all such herds as had been specified, “ and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks. Thereupon Jacob took rods of green poplar, hazel, and chestnut, and peeled these rods in alternate stripes of white and bark, and he put them in the gutters in the watering- troughs when the flocks came to drink. 55 The animals duly copulated, and “ the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle, ringstraked, speckled, and spotted. 55 Moreover, it was only when the stronger cattle conceived that Jacob set the rods before their eyes, so that eventually all the best of the herds fell to his share. The names of the trees are in themselves significant. The poplar in Roman


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT


187


folklore was sacred to Hercules, 31 and as it grew on the banks of the river Acheron in Epirus it was connected with Acheron, the waters of woe in the underworld, a confused tradition which is undoubtedly of very early origin. So Pausanias has : t*jp Xcvktjp 6 'Hpa/cA?? 7rc<fivKvtav irapa top ’A x^povTa eupero ip QecrirpcoTLa irorapiop* In seventeenth- century England poplar-leaves were accounted an important ingredient in hell-broths and charms. The hazel has been linked with magic from remotest antiquity, and the very name witch-hazel remains to-day. The chestnut-tree and its nuts seem to have been associated with some primitive sexual rites. The connexion is obscure, but beyond doubt traceable. In that most glorious marriage song, the Epitha- lamium of Catullus, as the boys sang their Fescennines of traditional obscenity nuts were scattered among the crowd. 32 Petronius (Fragmentum XXXIII, ed. Buecheler, Berolini, 1895) mentions chestnuts as an amatory gift :

aurea mala mihi, dulcis mca Marcia, mittis mittis et hirsutae munera castaneae.

In Genesis again is recorded a most interesting and instructive example of the belief in the magic efficacy of plants. 66 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah 99 (xxx. 14 A.V.). Reuben brings his mother man¬ drakes (Love Apples), which Rachel desires to have. Where¬ upon Leah bargains with Rachel, and the latter for a portion of the fruit consents that Jacob shall that night return to the bed of his elder wife, who indeed conceives and in due time she bare Issachar. Leah ate of the mandrake as a charm to induce pregnancy, and no disapproval of such use is expressed.

A similar theme is treated in Machiavelli’s famous master¬ piece of satirical comedy La Mandragola,^ written between 1513 and 1520, and performed by request before Leo X in the April of the latter year. It had already been acted in Florence. In this play Callimaco is bent upon securing as his mistress Lucrezia, the wife of a gullabie doctor of laws, Messer Nicia, whose one wish in life is to get a son. Callimaco is introduced as a physician to Nicia, to whom he explains that a potion of mandxagora administered to the lady will


188 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


remove her sterility, but that it has fatal consequences to the husband. He must perish unless some other man be first substituted whose action will absorb the poison, and leave Lucrezia free to become the mother of a blooming family. This plot is fully worked out, and by the services of his supple confederates Callimaeo is introduced to Lucrezia 5 s bedchamber as the necessary victim, and gains his desire.

Mandrakes and mallows were potent in all forms of enchantment, and about the mandrake in particular has grown up a whole library of legend, which it would require much time and space thoroughly to investigate. Western lore is mainly of somewhat a grim character, but not entirely, and by the Orientals mandrake is regarded as a powerful aphrodisiac. So in Canticles VII, 18, we have: Mandragorae dederunt odorem. (The mandrakes give a fragrant smell.) In antiquity mandrakes were used as an anaesthetic. Dio- scorides alludes to the employment of this herb before patients have to be cut or burned ; Pliny refers to its odour as causing sleep during an operation ; Lucian speaks of it as used before cautery ; and both Galen and Isidorus have passages which mention its dormitive quality. The Shake¬ spearean allusions have rendered this aspect familiar to all.

The Arabs and ancient Germans thought that a powerful spirit inhabited the plant, an idea derived, perhaps, from the fancied resemblance of the root to the human form. Ducagne has under Mandragore: “ Pomi genus cuius mentio fit, Gen. xxx. 14. nostris etiam notis sub nomine Mandragores, quod pectore asseruatum sibi diuitiis acquirendis idoneum somniabunt.” And Littr<£ quotes the following from an old chronicle of the thirteenth century : tc Li dui compaignon [un couple d’eldphants] vont contre Orient pres du paradis terreste, tant que la femelle trouve une herbe que on apele mandragore, si en manjue, et si atize tant son masle qu’il en manjue avec li, et maintenant eschaufe la volenti de chascun, et s’entrejoignent a envers et engendrent un filz sanz plus.” In the Commentaria ad Historiam Caroli VI et VII it is related that several mandrakes found in the possession of Fr&re Richard, a Cordelier, were seized and burned as savouring of witchcraft.

It seems certain that the teraphim, which Rachel stole


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT


189


from her father (Genesis xxxi, 19, and 81-85), and which when he was in pursuit she concealed by a subtle trick, were used for purposes of divination. From the relation of the incident it is obvious that they were regarded of immense value—he who had conveyed them away was, if found, to die the death —and invested with a mysterious sanctity. Centuries later, during the period of drastic reform, King Josias (689-608 B.c.) would no longer tolerate them : “ Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images [teraphim], and the idols, and all abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and m Jerusalem did Josiah pub away 55 (2 Kings xxiiL 24. A.V.). The Vulgate has : “ Sed et

pythones, et hariolos, et figuras idolorum, et immunditias, ct abominationes, quae fuerant in terra Juda et Jerusalem, abstulit Josias. 55 In Ezechiel xxi. 21, Esarhaddon is said to have divined by teraphim as well as by belomancy ; and in Zacharias (x. 2) the teraphim are stated on occasion to have deceived their inquirers, cc simulacra locuta sunt inutile, 55 “ the idols have spoken vanity. 55 Notwithstanding this it is obvious from Osee (Hosea) iii. 4, that divination by teraphim was sometimes permitted: “ Dies multos sedebunt filii Israel sine rege, et sine principe, et sine sacrificio, et sine altari, et sine ephod, et sine teraphim. 55 66 The children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim, 55

The learned Cornelius 4 Lapide glossing on Genesis xxxi writes : “ Idola, teraphim quod significat statute human a; siue humaneas formas habentes ut patet, I, Reg. xix. 55 The allusion is to the deception practised by Michal on Saul’s messengers, when putting one of the teraphim in bed and covering it with quilts she pretended it was David who lay sick. “ Secundo, 55 continues 4 Lapide, cc nomen theraphim non appropriatum est in eas statuas, quae opera daemonorum deposei debent, ut patet Judicum, xviii, 18, 5 5 the reference being to the history of Micas. Calvin very absurdly says : <c Theraphim sunt imagines quales habent papistae, 55

Spencer 34 is of opinion that these teraphim were small images or figures, and the point seems conclusively settled by S. Jerome, who in his twenty-ninth Epistle, Be Ephod et Teraphim, quotes I Kings xix. 15, and uses <c figuras siue


190 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

fxgurationes ” to translate inop^fiaTa of Aquila of Pontus. This writer was the author of a Greek version of the Old Testament published circa a . d . 128. About eight years before he seems to have been expelled from the Christian community, by whom he was regarded as an adept in magic. The work of Aquila, who studied in the school of Rabbi Akiba, the founder of Rabbinical Judaism, is said by S. Jerome to have attained such exactitude that it was a good dictionary to furnish the meaning of the obscurer Hebrew words. The Targum of Jonathan commenting upon Genesis xxxi. 19, puts forward the singular view that the teraphim, concealed by Rachel, consisted of a mummified human head.

In the book Tobias we have a detailed and important account of exorcism, and one, moreover, which throws consider¬ able light upon the demonology of the time. Tobias, the son of Tobias, is sent under the guidance of the unknown Angel, S. Raphael, to Gabelus in Rages of Media, to obtain the ten talents of silver left in bond by his father, Tobias, whilst bathing in the Tigris is attacked by a monstrous fish, of which he is told by his Angel protector to reserve the heart, liver, and gall; the first two of these are to prevent the devil who had slain seven previous husbands of Sara, the beautiful daughter of Raguel, from attacking him. They arrive at the house of Raguel, and Tobias seeks the hand of Sara, She, however, is so beloved by the demon Asmodeus that seven men who had in turn married her were by him put to death the night of the nuptials, before consummation. Tobias, however, by exorcism, by the odour of the burning liver of the fish, and by the help of S. Raphael, routs Asmodeus, c< Then the Angel Raphael took the Devil, and bound him in the desert of upper Egypt.” The story which must be accepted as fact-narrative was originally written during the Babylonian exile in the early portion of the seventh century, b.c. It plainly shows that demons were considered to be capable of sexual love, such as was the love of the sons of God for the daughters of men recorded fix Genesis (vi. 2). One may compare the stories bf the Jinns in Arabian lore. Asmodeus is perhaps to be identified with the Persian Aeshma daiva , who in the Avesta is next to Angromainyus, the chief of the evil spirits. The introduction of Tobias’s dog should be remarked. The dog accompanies


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT


191


his master on the journey and when they return home “ the dog* which had been with them in the way* ran before* and coming as if he had brought the news* shewed his joy by Ms fawning and wagging his tail. 55 Among the Persians a certain power over evil spirits was justly assigned to the faithful dog.

The New Testament evidence for the reality of magic and divination is such that cannot be disregarded by any who accept the Christian revelation.

In the Gospels we continually meet with possession by devils ; the miracle wrought in the country of the Gerasenes (Gergesenes) (S. Matthew viii. 28-34), the dumb man possessed by a devil (S. Matthew ix„ 32-34), the healing of the lunatic boy who was obsessed (S. Matthew xviL 14-21), the exorcism of the unclean spirit (S. Mark i. 23-2T), the casting out of devils whom Christ suffered not to speak (S. Mark i. 32-34), the exorcism in the name of Jesus (S. Mark ix. 38), the demons who fled our Lord’s presence crying out 44 Thou art Christ, the son of God 55 (S. Luke iv. 41), the healing of those vexed with unclean spirits (S. Luke vi. 18), and many instances more.

Very early in the Apostolic ministry appears one of the most famous figures in the whole history of Witchcraft, Simon, who is as Simon Magus, sorcerer and heresiareh. At the outbreak of that persecution (circa a . d . 37) of the Christian community in Jerusalem which began with the martyrdom of S. Stephen, when Philip the Deacon went down to Samaria, Simon, a native of Gitta, was living in that city. By his magic arts and by his mysterious doctrine, in which he announced himself as 44 the great power of God,’ 5 he had made a name for himself and gained many adherents. He listened to Philip’s sermons, was greatly impressed by them, he saw with wonder the miracles of healing and the exorcisms of unclean spirits, and like many of his countrymen was baptized and united with the community of believers in Christ. But it is obvious that he only took this step in order to gain, as he hoped, greater magical power and thus increase his influence. For when the Apostles S. Peter and S. John came to Samaria to bestow upon those who had been baptized by Philip the outpouring of the Holy Ghost which was accompanied by heavenly manifestations Simon offered


192 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


them money, saying, “ Give me also this power, 55 which he obviously regarded as a charm or occult spell. S. Peter forthwith sharply rebuked the unholy neophyte, who, alarmed at this denunciation, implored the Apostles to pray for him.

Simon is not mentioned again in the New Testament, but the first Christian writers have much to say concerning him. S. Justin Martyr, in his first Apologia (a.d. 158-155) and in his dialogue Contra Tryphonem (before a.d. 161), describes Simon as a warlock who at the instigation of demons claimed to be a god. During the reign of the Emperor Claudius, Simon came to Rome, and by his sorceries won many followers who paid him divine honours. He was accompanied by a lewd concubine from Tyre, Helena, whom he claimed was Heavenly Intelligence, set free from bondage by himself the “ great power. 35

In the Pseudo-Clementine Homilies (probably second cen¬ tury) Simon appears as the chief antagonist of S. Peter, by whom his devilish practices are exposed and his enchantments dissolved. The apocryphal Acts of S. Peter, which are of high antiquity, 35 give in detail the well-known legend of the death of Simon Magus. By his spells the warlock had almost won the Emperor Nero to himself, but continually he was being foiled and thwarted owing to the intercession of the Apostle. At last when Caesar demanded one final proof of the truth of his doctrines, some miracle that might be performed at midday in the face of all Rome, Simon offered to take his flight into the heavens—a diabolical parody of the Ascension—so that men might know his power was full as mighty as that of Him whom the Christians worshipped as God.

A mighty concourse gathered in the Forum : Vestal Virgins, Senators, Equites, their ladies, and a whole rabble of lesser folk. In the forefront of a new Imperial box sat the Lord Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, on one side his mother, Agrippina, on the other Octavia his wife. Magic staff in hand the magician advanced into the midst of the arena : muttering a spell he bade his staff await his return, and forthwith it stood upright, alone, upon the pavement. Then with a deep obeisance to the ruler of the known world Simon Magus stretched forth his arms, and a moment more with


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT


193


rigid limbs and stem set face he rose from the ground and began to float high in air toward the Capitol. Like some monstrous bird he rose, and hovered fluttering in space awhile. But among the throng stood S. Peter, and just as the sorcerer had reached the topmost pinnacles of the shrine of Juno Moneta, now Santa Maria in Aracoeli, "where brown Franciscans sing the praises of God, the first Pope of Rome kneeled down, lifted his right hand and deliberately made a mighty Sign of the Cross towards the figure who usurped the privileges of the Incarnate Son of Mary. Who shall say what hosts of hells fled at that moment ? The wizard dropped swift as heavy lead ; the body whirled and turned in the air ; it crashed, broken and breathless, at the foot of the Emperor’s seat, which was fouled and bespattered with black gouts of blood. At the same moment with a ringing sound the staff fell prone on the pavement. The flag upon which S. Peter kneeled may be seen even until this day in the Church of Santa Francesca Romana. For, in order to commemorate the defeat of the warlock, Pope S. Paul I (757-767) built a church upon the site of his discomfiture, and in 850 Pope S. Leo IV reconstructed it as Santa Magi a Nova, which gave place to the present fane dedicated in 1612.

But the fame of Simon Magus as a wizard has been swallowed up in his ill repute as a heretic ; so early do heresy and magic go hand in hand. He was the first Gnostic, whose disciples the Simonians, an Antinomian sect of the second century, indulged the sickest fantasies. Menander, the successor of Simon, proclaimed himself the Messiah and asserted that by his baptism immortality was conferred upon his follow ers. He also was regarded as a mighty magician, and the sect which was named after him, the Menandrians, seems to have lasted for no inconsiderable time.

In his missionary journeys S. Paul was continually com¬ bating Witchcraft. At Paphos he was opposed by the sorcerer Elymas ; in Philippi a medium, cc a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination,' 55 46 spiritum pythonem,” followed him along the streets crying out and naming him as “ a servant of the most high God,” until he exorcized the spirit; at Ephesus, a hotbed of sorcery and superstition, he converted many diviners and witches, who cleansed their


194 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

souls by the Sacrament of Penance, and burned their con¬ juring books, a library of no mean value. It amounted indeed to fifty thousand drachmas (£2000), and one may suppose that in addition to manuscripts there were amulets of silver and gold, richly wrought and jewelled. In Ephesus, also, had foregathered a large number of vagabond Jews, exorcists. The chief characteristic of a Jewish exorcism was the recitation of names believed to be efficacious, principally names of good angels, which were used either alone, or in combination with El (God); and, indeed, a blind reliance upon the sound of mere names had long been a settled practice with these amateur sorcerers, who considered that the essence of their charms lay in the use of particular names declaimed in a particular order, which differed on several occasions. It was this belief, no doubt, that induced the seven sons of Sceva, who had witnessed S. Paul’s exorcisms in the name of Jesus, to try upon their own account the formula 44 I conjure thee by Jesus whom Paul preacheth,” an experiment disastrous to their credit. For in one case the patient cried out 44 Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye ? 55 and leaped upon them with infernal strength, beating and wounding them, so that they fled for safety from the house, their limbs bruised and their garments torn, to the great scandal of the neighbourhood.

For the fact of demoniac possession the authority of Christ Himself is plainly pledged; whilst Witchcraft is explicitly ranked by S. Paul with murder, sedition, hatred, and heresy (Galatians v. 20-21). S. John, also, twice mentions sorcerers in a hideous catalogue of sinners. There can be no doubt whatsoever that the reality of Witchcraft is definitely maintained by the New Testament writers, 36 and any denial of this implicitly involves a rejection of the truth of the Christian revelation.

Among the Jews of a later period, and probably even to-day, various diseases are said to be induced by demons, who, it is instructive to notice, haunt marshy places, damp and decayed houses, latrines, squalid alleys, foul atmospheres where sickness is bred and ripened.

Josephus (ob. a.d. 100) relates that God taught Solomon how demons were to be expelled, a 44 science useful and sanitative to men.” He also gives an account of Eliezar, a


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT 195

celebrated exorcist of the time, whom, in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian, the historian actually saw casting out evil spirits. The operator applied to the nose of the possessed a ring having attached to it a root which Solomon is said to have prescribed—■“ Baaras,” a herb of magical properties, and one dangerous for the uninitiate to handle. As the devils came forth Eliezar caused them to pass into a basin filled with water, which was at once poured away. It may be noticed also that demonology plays an important part in the Book of Enoch (before 170 b.c.). Even in the Mishna there are undoubted traces of magic, and in the Gemara demonology and sorcery loom very largely. Throughout the Middle Ages Jewish legend played no insignificant part in the history of Witchcraft, and, especially in Spam, until the nineteenth century at least, there were prosecutions, not so much for the observance of Hebrew ceremonies as is often suggested and supposed, but for the practice of the dark and hideous traditions of Hebrew magic. Closely connected with these ancient sorceries are those ritual murders, of which a learned Premonstratensian Canon of Wilthin, Adrian Kembter, writing in 1745, was able to enumerate no less than two-and-fifty, 37 the latest of these having taken place in 1650, when at Cadan in Bohemia, Matthias, a lad of four years old, was killed by certain rabbis with seven wounds. In many cases the evidence is quite conclusive that the body, and especially the blood of the victim, was used for magical purposes. Thus with reference to little S. Hugh of Lincoln, after various very striking details, the chronicler has : “ Et cum exspirasset puer, deposuerunt corpus de cruce, et nescitur qua ratione, euiscerarunt corpusculum ; dicitur autem, quod ad magicas artes exercendas.” In 1261 at Forcheim in Bavaria the blood of a murdered boy was used to sprinkle certain thresholds and doors. In 1285 at Munich a witch was convicted of selling Christian children to the Jews, who carefully preserved the blood in curious vessels for secret rites. In 1404 at Tyrnau twelve vampires were executed for having opened the veins of a boy whom they had snared, and having drunk his warm blood thence whilst he was yet alive. A deed of peculiar horror was discovered at Szydlow in 1597 when the victim was put to death in exquisite tortures, the blood and several members


196 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


of the body being partaken of by the murderers. In almost every case the blood was carefully collected, there can be no doubt for magical purposes, the underlying idea being the precept of the Mosaic law : Anima enim omnis carnis in sanguine est : 38 For the life of all flesh is In the blood thereof

NOTES TO CHAPTER V

1 Khattummim The same word is used to describo the magicians whom Pharaoh summoned to interpret Ins dream. Genesis xli 8, whore the Vulgate has comedo? es Exodus vin. 11, the Vulgate reads “ Uocauit autem Pharao sapientes et malehcos.”

2 It is perhaps worth mentioning that oven the most modernistic com¬ mentators assign the history of Balaam to the oldest document of the Hexateuch, that they call the Jeho^istic.

3 In his commentary on the ninth chapter of the prophet Osee (Hosea), S. Jerome says. “ Ingressi [sunt] ad Boel-Phegor, ldoluro Moabitarum quem nos PRIAPUM possumus appelare ” And Rulinus on the same prophet has : ‘ k Beel-Phogor figuram Priapi dixerunt toner©.” (They entered m unto Beol-Phegor, the idol of the Moabites, whom we may identify with PRIAPUS.

. . Beel-Phegor is said to have had the same shape as Priapus.)

4 Balaam hanolus a Domino mittitur ut decipiat Balac filium Beor In Ezechielem, IV xiv. Migne, Patres Latini, XXV. p. 118 (Baalam, a sooth¬ sayer, is sent by God to deceive Balac, son of Beor.)

5 Balaam fuisse prophetam non Dei, sed diaboh constat . . . Fuit ipse magus, et daemoms alloquium quaere bat, ©unique consulere

c The word is usually found with yidde ’omm (from yada, “ to know, 95 ) and they are generally considered to Tbe identical m meaning. But W. R. Smith, Journ. Phil, XIV. 127, makes the following distinction : Yiddo ’oni is a familiar spirit, one known to him who calls it up ; the ’dbh is any spirit who may be invoked by a spell and forced to answer questions.

7 Divination , et la science des presages, Pans, 1875 p. 161 ff.

8 History of the People of Israel, 3 vols., London, 1888-91. I. p. 347

0 Cf. Ovid, Metamorphoseon, IV, 412—3, of bats .

Oonakeque loqui, minimam pro corpore uocom Emittunt; peraguntque leues stridore querelas.

10 Josephus says that Samuel told the witch it was Saul.

11 Migne, Patres Grceci, LXXX. p. 589

12 Fieri que putant Saulem signum accopisse de terra et do prof undo inform quando Samuclom per mcantation.es et artes magicas uisus est suscitasso. Migne, Patres Latini , XXIV p. 106.

13 . . . inspirantur diabohco spiritu. Has autem dicunt Hebrsei malefieis artibus oruditas per necroraantias et pythieum spmtum qualis fuit ilia quee uisa ost suscitare annnam Samuelis. Idem , XXV. p. 114

14 Migne, Patres Greed, XLV. pp. 107-14.

16 Aalyopes yap ijcrav ol Karaax^^rl^ovres kavrobs els rb rod Set yovrjX Tcpbawirop, Idem , XXX. p. 497.

16 Et credo quia [spiritus immundi] mendacio possunt; necenim pythonico tunc spintui minus heiut ammam Samuelis effingere. {De Anima, LVII.) Migne, Patres Latini, II. p 749.

11 ’AXX& ybypawrai, 6rl Bypta LaovX Bn Sa yov'rj'k B cm»

18 iirel ov dtiparat ipevBiffOcu ij Tpafiy. rh, Be ptfyara rrjs Vpcuprjs icrrlv ’ Kal etBev i} yvvfy rbv Sctgou^X, (In librum Begum. Homilia II.) Migne, Patres Greed , XII. p 1013.

18 Kal Bn y&powtp al tyvxal, &7rb5eii;a bytv Ik rov Kal rr)P 2a yovijX \pvxhv KhTjdypat, i> 7 rb r?7 ? iyyatrrpcyytiOov, &$ y^Lacnv 6 SaouX. (In I. Begum . XXVIII.) Idem, XIJ.

20 Samuel post mortem, secundum Scripturse Testimonium futura non tacuit. J. Begum. XXVIII. 17 et seg. (In Lucam . I. 33.) Migne, Patres LatinL XV. p. 1547.


THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT 197

21 Imago Samuelis mortui Saul rogi uera pr©nuntiauit. Idem , XXXIV, p 52. And Be Gum , XL. p. 606.

22 Nam Samuel proplieta d©functus uiuo Sauli etiam regi futura prsedixit.

23 Winston’s translation. Ed, 1825 Vol. I, p. 263.

24 So 1 Kings (Samuel ) xv 23 : “ Because it is like the sm of witchcraft, to rebel.” Heresy and rebellion are fundamentally the sarne.^

25 Schrader, Die Keilenscheiften und das alU Testament , Giessen, 2nd ed., 1883.

26 , . . raconta ses rapts d’enfants, sos hideuses tactiques, ses stimulations

mf©males, sos meurtres imp6tueux, sos implacables viols; obsed6 par la vision des ses victimes, il decrivit lours agonies ralenties on hatdes, leurs appols et leurs rales; il avoua s’efcre vautrqAffiS les ^lastiques tiedeurs des mtestins ; il co nfessa. coeurs par des plaies elargies,

mars. Ld-Bas, J. K. Huysmaris, c. xvm.

- 7 Healey’s translation, 1610.

28 De Magia, XLVII.

23 The Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia, Sven Nilsson 3rd edition. 1868. p. 241

30 The original title is mra ttcmtuv aipiveuv iXeyx 0 ^ A Refutation of all Heresies, The first book had long been known ; books IV-X, which had been discovered a short time pioviously, weio first published m 1851 (Oxford) by Miller as the work of Ongen, but edited by Duneker and Schnoidcwm as by Hippolitus, eight years later, Gottingen, 1859. The first chapters of the Fourth, and the whole of the Second and Third Books are still missing.

31 Theocritus, [I. 121, llparl o' Xetimv *H/>a/cX£os Upbv Zpvos. Vergil Eclogue VIII, 61 * Populus Alcichc gratissima. Jlncid, VILI, 276. Horculea bicolor quom populus umbia . . ,

32 Pliny (Histona Natuuihs , XV. 86) says walnuts were thiown, and it appears from an inscription that this custom prevailed on bnthdays as well as at weddings But originally, at any rate, chestnuts were also used. In time the moaning became obseurod, and as nuts were used m all kinds of games they merely became synonymous with playthings.

33 The play is reforred to m 1520 as Messer Nicia , and the first edition printed at Floronce circa 1524 has the title The Comedy of Galhmaco and Lucrezia, but the Prologue definitely givos the name La Mandragola (The Mandrake), and this is used in all later editions. The story has been imitated by La Fontaine; the play itself (which is still aetod in Italy) has been repeatedly translated, at least six times into French and five times into German, but as yet no English vorsion has been published.

34 De Legibus Hebmorum rituahbus ear unique rationibus , 2 vols,, Tubings, 1732.

85 Not later than a.d. 200. They were well known to Commodian, who wrote about a.d. 250.

80 This is, of course, the view of the Fathers, and even later theological writers (e.g. Alfred Edersheim, Delitzsch, Rev. Walter Scott) accept this litoral truth,

37 In his book Acta pro Ueritate Martyni corporis, db culius publici B. Andrece Ihnnensis , Innsbruck, 1745. Blessed Andrew, a child, was lolled at Rmn m the Tyrol, 12 July, 1462 A systematic investigation would, no doubt, woilnigh double tho number of instances recorded by Kemhtor, and there are 15 for the eighteenth, 39 for the nineteenth century. In 1913 Mendil Beiliss was tried upon the charge of ritually murdering a Russian lad, Yushinsky,

88 Leviticus xvh. 14.


CHAPTER VI


Diabolic Possession and Modern Spiritism

The phenomenon of diabolic possession, the mere possibility of which materialists and modernists in recent years have for the most part stoutly denied, has, nevertheless, been believed by all peoples and at all periods of the earth’s history. In truth he who accepts the spiritual world is bound to realize all about him the age-long struggle for empery of discarnate evil ceaselessly contending with a thousand cunning sleights and a myriad vizardings against the eternal unconquerable powers of good. Nature herself bears witness to the contest; disease and death, cruelty and pain, ugliness and sin, are all evidences of the mighty warfare, and it would be surprising indeed if some were not wounded in the fray—for we cannot stand apart, each man, S. Ignatius says, must fight under one of the two standards—if some even did not fall.

The ancient Egyptians, whose religion of boundless antiquity is pre-eminent in the old world for its passionate earnestness, its purity, and lofty idealism certainly held that some diseases were due to the action of evil spirits or demons, who in exceptional circumstances had the power of entering human bodies and of vexing them in proportion to the opportunities consciously or unconsciously given to their malign natures and influences. • Mere&Y-er, th@ Egyptians were regarded as being supremely gifted in the art of curing the diseases caused by demoniacal possession, and one note¬ worthy instance of this was inscribed upon a stole and set up in the temple of the god Khonsu at Thebes so that all men might learn his might and his glory . 1 When King Rameses II was in Mesopotamia the various princes made him many offerings of gold and gems, and amongst other came the Prince of Bekhten, who brought his daughter, the fairest maiden of that land. When the king saw he loved her and bestowed upon her the title of “ Royal spouse, chief Jady,

ig8


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 199

Ra-neferu 55 (the beauties of Ra, the Sun-god), and taking her back to Egypt he married her with great pomp and hallowed solemnity. In the fifteenth year of the king’s reign there arrived at his court an ambassador from the Prince of Bekhten, bearing rich presents and beseeching him “ on behalf of the lady Bent-ent-resht, the younger sister of the royal spouse Ra-neferu, for, behold, an evil disease hath laid hold upon her body, “ wherefore,’ 3 said. ** I beseech

thy Maj esty to. to see her. 55 Rameses

"orfer^tKeTooksof the ct double house of life 55 to be brought and the wise men to choose from their number one who might be sent to Bekhten. They selected the sage Tehuti- em-heb, who in company with the ambassador forthwith departed on their journey, and when they had arrived the Egyptian priest soon found the lady Bent-ent-resht was possessed of a demon or spirit over which he was powerless. Wellnigh in despair the Prince of Bekhten sent again to the king begging him to dispatch even a god to his help.

When the ambassador arrived a second time Rameses was worshipping in the temple of Khonsu Nefer-hetep at Thebes, and he at once besought that deity to allow his counterpart Khonsu to go to Bekhten and to deliver the daughter of the prince of that country from the demon w T ho possessed her. Khonsu Nefer-hetep granted the request, and a fourfold measure of magical power was imparted to the statue of the god which was to go to Bekhten. The god, seated in his boat, and five other boats with figures of gods in them, accompanied by a noble attendance of horses and chariots upon the right and the left, set out for Bekhten, where in due course they were received with great honour. The god Khonsu was brought to the place where the princess was, magical cere¬ monies were performed, and the demon incontinently departed. Khonsu remained in Bekhten three years, four months, and five days, being worshipped with the utmost veneration. One night, however, the Prince had a dream in which he saw a hawk of gold issue from the sacred shrine and wing its way towards Egypt. In the morning the Egyptian priests interpreted his dream as meaning that the god now wished to return, and accordingly he was escorted back in superb state, and with him were sent grateful gifts


200 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


and thank offerings innumerable to be laid in the temple of Khonsu Nefer-hetep at Thebes.

The Greeks of the earlier civilization were inclined generally to attribute all sickness to the gods, who again often by this particular means took almost immediate revenge upon those who had insulted their images, profaned their sanctuaries, or derided their worship. Thus Pentheus who resists the introduction of the mysteries of Dionysus into Thebes is driven mad by the affronted deity . 3 The madness of Ajax, and that of the daughters of Proetus , 4 who imagined them¬ selves changed into cows, shows us that this belief went back to heroic times. In later days Bemaratus and his brother Alopecos were driven lunatic ( 7 rapa^povycrav) after having found the statue of Artemis Orthosia, and this was considered to be the power of the goddess . 5 The frenzy which attacked Quintus Fulvius was regarded as a punishment, a possession by evil spirits on account of his sacrilege in having stolen the marble roof of the temple of Juno Lacinia at LocrL 6

Pythagoras taught that the ailments both of men and of animals arc due to demons who throng the regions of the air, and this doctrine docs no more than state clearly what had been more or less vaguely believed from the dawn of human history. Wherefore Homer in the Odyssey, speaking of a man who is racked by a sore disease, says that a hateful demon is tormenting him : ernruyepog St ot £XP ae Salpcov, V, 896. (But a hateful demon griped him fast.) The word fcaKoSaijuovta, possession by an evil spirit, in Aristophanes signi¬ fies “raving madness ,’ 5 and the verb /ea/coScupovda, to be tormented by an evil spirit, is used by Xenophon, Demos¬ thenes, Dinarchus, and Plutarch 7 amongst other authors.

Many philosophers believed € *ach mnn^sa, protecting daimon, who in some sense personifies his individuality, ju followed that lunatics and the delirious were afflicted with madness by these spirits who guided them, and accordingly the Greek names for those distraught arc highly significant ; evepyovyevoL (in later Greek, persons possessed of an evil spirit), SaipovidXnirToi (influenced by devils), OeoX^roi, Oed/3\a/3€? (stricken of God), deop.aveg (maddened by the gods); and so Euripides has Xv&cra deopavrfc, and again Bmpavyg 7 rorpog . 8 The very name pavla given by the Greeks to madness was derived from the root-word man ,


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


201


n, 9 which occurs in the Latin Manes , and indeed the >mans thought that a madman was tormented by the ddess Mania, the mother of the Lares, the hallucinations lunatics being taken to be spectres who pursued them. 10 id so a madman was laruarum plenus, laruatus , 11 one whom Lantoms disturbed ; as in Plautus, where the doctor says : What kind of a disease is this ? Explai n. Unfol d^old sire,

  • a y. Art r ibjup^^

•S*!@mantic exaltation which thrilled the Galli, and the nybantes when they celebrated the Dionysia, seems to ive been epidemic, and was universally attributed to divine Dssession. There arc many allusions to the connexion etween the rites of Cybelc and Dionysus. Apollodorus 13 tys Dionysus was purified from madness by Rhea at the hrygian Cybela, and was then initiated into her rites and 3ok‘ her dress ; thence he passed into Thrace with a train f Bacchanals and Satyrs. Strabo, 14 on the other hand, hinks the rites were brought from Thrace by colonists from hat country into Phrygia ; he even quotes a fragment from he Edoni of iEschylus 15 as proving the identity of the iultus of Dionysus and Cybele. So also we have in Euripides, Bacchw, 58,

Up, and wake the sweet old sound,

The clang that I and mystic Rhea found,

The Timbrel of the Mountains. 16

It is interesting to remark that Meander of Claros, 17 who was a physician, in his Alewipharmaca (’AAe£i 4 >dpjuLaica ) 9 speaking of a particular form of lunacy, compares the shrieks uttered by patients with those of a priestess of Rhea, when on the ninth day she makes all whom she encounters in the streets tremble at the hideous how! of the Idaean Mother ; K€pvo<bopGs £aKopo<} j3a>p,lo-Tpui 'Pei 179 is the exact phrase. 18

In the Hippolytus (3 41 sqq.) the Chorus speaking to Phaedra says:

Is this some spirit, O child of man ?

Doth Hecat hold thee perchance, or Pan ?

Doth She of the Mountains work her ban,

Or the Dread Corybantes bind thee ? 19

And in the Medea (1171-2) we have : cc She seemed, I wot, to be one frenzied, inspired with madness by Pan or some other of the gods,** 20


202 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

Here two? dem^ says Paley, alludes to Dionysus or Cybele. Madness was sometimes thought to be sent by Pan for any neglect of his worship, so in the Rhesus Hector cries (86-7) : “ Can it be that you are scared by the fear- causing stroke of Pan of old Krone s’s line ? 5 521

Aretaeus, the medical writer, who is especially celebrated for his accuracy of diagnosis, in his De signis chronicorum morborum , VI, describes Corybantic frenzy as a mental malady and says that patients may be soothed and even cured by the strains of soft music, 22 We have here then the same remedy as was applied in the case of Saul, whom, we are told, “ an evil spirit from the Lord troubled, 5523 and to whose court David, the sweet harper, was summoned. This seems to be the only instance of demoniac possession in the Old Testament and although the Hebrew word ruah need not absolutely imply a personal influence, if we may judge from Josephus 24 the Jews certainly gave the word that meaning in this very passage.

It may be well here clearly to explain the difference between possession and obsession, two technical terms some¬ times confounded. By obsession is meant that the demon attacks a man’s body from without ; 25 by possession is meant that he assumes control of it from within. Thus S. Jerome describes the obsessions which beset S. Hilarion : ct Many were his temptations ; day and night did the demons change and renew their snares. ... As he lay down how often did not nude women encircle him ? When he was an hungered how often a plenteous board was spread before him ? 5,26 S. Antony the Great, also was similarly attacked : “ The dea^did not let to attack him, at night assuming the form of some mai3T?^^nclJmitating a woman’s gestures to deceive Antony.” 27 These painful pi}SiJ9?P en ® nrp noh common in the lives of the Saints. Very many examples might be* citeo^ but one will suffice, that of S. Margaret of Cortona, 28 the Franciscan penitent, 29 who was long and terribly tormented : “ Following her to and fro up and down her humble cell as she wept and prayed [the devil] sang the most filthy songs, and lewdly incited Christ’s dear handmaid, who with tears was commending herself to the Lord, to join him in trolling forth bawdy catches . . . but her prayers and tears finally routed the foul spirit and drove him far away.” 89 The


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


203


theologians, however, warn us to be very cautious in dealing with so difficult a matter, and the supreme authority of S. Alphonsus Liguori advises us that by far the greater part of these obsessions are distressing hallucinations, neuras¬ thenia, imagination, hysteria, in a word, pathological: “ It is advisable always to be very suspicious of such diabolic attacks, for it cannot be gainsaid that for the most part they are fancy, or the effect of imagination, or weakness, especially when women are concerned . 5 ’ 31 Dom Dominic Schram presses home the same point with equal emphasis : “ Very often what are supposed to be demoniacal obsessions are nothing else than natural ailments, or morbid imaginings, or even distractions or actual lunacy. Wherefore it is necessary to deal with these cases most carefully, until the peculiar symptoms clearly show that it is actual obsession . 5532

Demoniac possession is frequently presented to us in the New Testament, and we have the authority of Christ Himself as to its reality. The infidel argument is to deny the possi¬ bility of possession in any circumstances, either on the hypothesis that there are no evil spirits in existence, or that they are powerless to influence the human body in the manner described. But whatever view Rationalists may adopt—and they are continually shifting their grou^^u. no reader of the Scriptural native can deny that Christ by word and showed His entire belief in possession by evil spirits. And if Christ were divine how came He to foster and encourage a delusion ? Why did He not correct it ? Only two answers can be supposed. Either He was ignorant of a religious truth, or He deliberately gave instructions that He knew to be false, frequently acting in a way which was something more than misleading. To a Christian either of these explanations is, of course, unthinkable. The theory of accommodation formulated by Winer 33 may be accepted by Modernists, but will be instantly condemned by all others. Accommodation is understood as the toleration of harmless illusions of the day having little or no connexion with religion. Even if this fine piece of profanity were allowed, which, of course, must not be the case, the argument could not be applied here, indeed it seems wholly repugnant even in regard to a Saint, but entirely impossible in consideration of the divinity of Christ.


204 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


The victims of possession were sometimes deprived of speech and sight: cc Then was offered to him one possessed of a devil, blind and dumb : and he healed him, so that he spoke and saw 55 (S. Matthew xii. 22). Sometimes they had lost speech alone ; “ Behold, they brought him a dumb man, possessed with a devil, and after the devil was cast out the dumb man spoke 55 (S. Matthew ix. 32, 33); also “ And he was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb : and when he had cast out the devil the dumb spoke 95 (S. Luke xi. 14). In many cases the mere fact of possession is mentioned without further details : “ they presented to him such as were possessed by devils, and lunatics . . . and he cured them 55 (S. Matthew iv. 24); “ and when evening was come, they brought to him many that were possessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word 55 (S. Matthew viii. 16); cc And, behold a woman of Canaan, who came out of those coasts, crying out, said to him : Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David : my daughter is grievously troubled by a devil . . . Then Jesus answering, said to her : O woman, great is thy faith : be it done to thee as thou wilt:


and her daughter was cured from that hour 75 (S. Matthew xv. 22-28); “ And when it was evening after sunset they brought 'bohm^ ^ a ' fc were ill and that were possessed with devils 55 ; 44 And he cast out many'ae^m^nd he suffered them not to


speak, because they knew him 55 ; Anwas preaching in their synagogues, and in all Galilee and casting^ devils ” (S. Mark i. 32, 34, 39) ; “ And the unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him : and they ened, saying: Thou art the Son of God (S. Mailc in. 11, 1-)» “ And devils went out from many, crying out and saying : Thou art the Son of God ” (S. Luke iv. 41) ; And they that were troubled with unclean spirits were cured (b. Luke vi. 18) • “ And in that same hour, he cured many ol their diseases, and hurts, and evil spirits” (S. Luke vu. 21). The exorcism of the man “ who had a devil now a very long time,” and who dwelt among the tombs in the country o' the Gcrascns (Gadarenes) is related by S. Luke (vm. 27-39). The possessed is tormented by so many unclean spirits that they proclaim their name as Legion: he is endowed with supernatural strength so that he breaks asunder bonds and fetters: the devils recognize Christ as God, and Our


DIABOLIC POSSESSION ; i.205

Lord converses with them, asking how they are Immediately the devils have been east out the man is clothed, peaceable, reasonable, and quiet, 44 in his right mind.”

At the foot of Mount Tabor a young man is brought by his father to be healed. The youth is possessed of a dumb spirit, 44 who, wheresoever he taketh him daslieth him, and he foameth, and gnashetji with the teeth, and pineth away. 55 When Jesus approached, 44 immediately the spirit troubled him ; and being thrown down upon the ground, he rolled about foaming. 55 The patient had been thus afflicted 44 from his infancy, and oftentimes hath he cast him into the fire and into waters to destroy him. 55 Our Lord threatened the spirit, and forthwith expelled it. (S. Mark ix. 14-28.) It should be noticed that it is the demons who are addressed on these occasions, not their victims. In the face of this catena of Biblical evidence and the various circumstances attending these exorcisms it is impossible to maintain that the possessed suffered merely from epilepsy, paralysis, acute mania, or any other such disease. In fact the Evangelists carefully separate natural maladies from diabolic possession : 44 He cast out the spirits with his word : and all that were sick he healed 55 (S, Matthew viii. 16); 44 They brought to him all that were ill and that were possessed with devils . . . and he healed many that were troubled with divers diseases and he cast out many devils 55 (S. Mark i. 82, 84). In the original Greek the distinction is still more clearly and unmistakably shown: iravras tqv$ koucoo$ exovTag /cal tou? ctai/xowfoueW?. Saint Matthew, again, differentiates: 44 they presented to him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases [irouciXai? voa’ois] and torments [/3a ordvois] and such as were possessed by devils [SuifAon- £ofievov<s\ and lunatics [<reX fjvia^ojuivou?] and those who had the palsy [7rapaXvrtKoijg] and he cured them, 35 iv. 24. Moreover, Our Lord expressly distinguishes between posses¬ sion and natural disease ; 44 Behold I cast out devils and do cures, 55 are the Divine Words ; iSov e/c/SdXXft) ScujuLovta kcll lacrei$ uwoTeXco (S. Luke xiii. 82).

That the demoniacs were often afflicted with other diseases as well is highly probable. The demons may have attacked those who were already sick, whilst the very fact of obsession


206 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


or possession would of itself produce disease as a natural consequence.

According to S. Matthew x. 1 5 Our Lord gave special powers to the Apostles to exorcize demons : “ And having called his twelve disciples together, he gave them power over unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of diseases, and all manner of infirmities. 55 And S. Peter, when describing the mission and miracles of Christ, stresses this very point: tc Jesus of Nazareth : how God anointed him with the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were possessed by the devil, 55 tovs KaTaSuvacrT6uojUL€Vov$ inro tov SiafSoXov (Acts X. 88). Our Lord Himself directly appeals to His power over evil spirits as a proof of His Messiahship : “ If I by the finger of God cast out devils ; doubtless the kingdom of God is come upon you 55 ; ei Se ev SuktvXw Qcov itcfidXXco to, Scu/jLQvia, a pa tfpOacrev eft vuas fj fSucriXcla tov Qeov (S. Luke xi. 20).

Whilst yet on earth Christ empowered the Apostles to cast out demons in His Name, and in His last solemn charge He promised that the same delegated power should be perpetuated : “ These signs shall follow them that believe : in my name they shall cast out devils 55 ; enpuria Se tols 7ri<TT€vcracri tclvt(x irapaicoXovOyjarei ev to ovo/uaTi juov Satjuovta ifcfiaXoucri (S. Mark xvi. 17.) But the efficacy of exorcism was conditional, not absolute as in the case of Our Lord Himself, for He explained, upon an occasion when the Apostles seemed to fail, that certain spirits could only be expelled by prayer and fasting. Moreover, a perfect belief and complete command are necessary for the exorcizer. rore irpocreXOovTes oi fxaQrprai rw 'Xrjcrov /car IS lav €ittov } AiqtI rj fuels ox)k jjSvv/j8}]/jl€v hcfiaXdv avTO ; 6 Se ’Irjcrovs Xeyet avTOiS) Aia tijv oXcyoirtfjTLav vjuuw' . . . tovto Se to yevos ovtc efciropeverai el jurj ev 7rpo<revxti /ecu vwTela (S. Matthew xviL 19-21). S. Paul, and no doubt the other Apostles and Disciples, regularly made use of this exorcizing power. Thus, at Philippi, where the girl “ having a pythonieal spirit , . . who brought to her masters much gain by divining 55 (iratSlancnv Tivd e'xovcrav irevvfua 7ru9wva - . * vtis epyacrlav TroXXrjp 7 rapelxe toIs Kvplots avTtjs pavTevojuevn) z ^ met S. Paul and S. Luke and proclaimed them as servants of the most high God, S. Paul 46 being grieved,


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 207

turned, and said to the spirit: I command thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to go out from her. And he went out the same hour” (Acts xvi. 16-18). And at Ephesus, a hot-bed of magic and necromancy, “ God wrought by the hand of Paul more than common miracles. So that even there were brought from his body to the sick, handkerchiefs and aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the wicked spirits went out of them” (Acts xix. 11, 12). Those who do not imagine that the powers Our Lord perpetually bestowed upon the Apostles and their followers abruptly ceased with the thirty-first verse of the twenty-eighth chapter of The Acts of the Apostles, realize that the charisma of exorcism has continued through the ages, and in truth the Church has uninterruptedly practised it until the present day.

The Exorcist is ordained by the Bishop for this office, ordination to which is the second of the four minor orders of the Western Church. Pope Cornelius (251-252) mentions in his letter to Eabius that there were then in the Roman Church forty-two acolytes, and fift.y-two exorcists, readers, and door-keepers, and the institution of these orders together with the organization of their functions, seems to have been the work of the predecessor of Cornelius, Pope Saint Fabian the Martyr (23(3-251).

The rite of the Ordination of Exorcists, “ De Ordinationc Exorcistarum,” is as follows : First, the Book of Exorcisms, or in its place the Pontifical or Missal must, be ready at. hand ; Pro Exorcistis ordinandis parctur liber exorcism orvm, cuius loco dari potest Pontificals uel Mis sale (A Book of Exorcisms must be prepared for those who are to be ordained Exorcists. Ilowbeit in place thereof the Pontifical or the Missal may be handed to them) runs the rubric. When the Lectors have been ordained, the Bishop resuming his mitre takes his place upon his seat or faldstool at the Epistle side of the altar, and the Missal with the bugia being brought by his acolytes he proceeds to read the Gradual, or (if it be within the Octave of Pentecost) the Alleluia. Meantime the Gradual is sung by the choir. When it is finished, he rises, takes off his mitre, and turning to the altar intones the third collect. He next sits again, resumes his mitre, and Mu* third Lection is read. Two chaplains assist him with bugia and book whence he reads the Lection. The Archdeacon now summons


208 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


the ordinandi, who approach, holding lighted tapers in their hands, and kneel before the Bishop, who solemnly admonishes them with the prayer :

66 Dearest children who are about to be ordained to the office of Exorcists, yc must duly know w r hat ye are about to undertake. For an Exorcist must cast out devils ; and announce to the people that those that may not be present at the sacrifice should retire ; and at the altar minister water to the priest. Ye receive also the power of placing your hand upon energumens, and by the imposition of your hands and the grace of the Holy Spirit and the words of exorcism unclean spirits arc driven out from the bodies of those who are obsessed. Be careful therefore that as yc drive out devils from the bodies of others, so yc banish all un- eleanness and evil from your own bodies lest ye fall beneath the power of those spirits who by your ministry are con¬ quered in others. Learn through your office to govern all imperfections lest the enemy may claim a share in you and some dominion over you. For truly will ye rightly control those devils who attack others, when first ye have overcome their many crafts against yourselves. And this may the Lord vouchsafe to grant you through His Holy Spirit . 5 ’ 35 After which the Bishop hands to each severally the Book of Exorcisms (or Pontifical or Missal), saying : “ Receive this and commit it to thy memory and have power to place thy hands upon energumens, whether they be baptized, or whether they be catechumens . 5 ’ 86 All kneel, and the Bishop, wearing his mitre, stands and prays :

“ Dearest brethren, let us humbly pray God the Father Almighty that He may vouchsafe to bless these his servants to the office of Exorcists that they may have the power to command spirits, to cast forth from the bodies of those who are obsessed demons with every kind of their wickedness and deceit. Through His only begotten Son Jesus Christ Our Lord who with Him liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. R . Amen .” 37 Then, his mitre having been removed, he turns to the altar with “ Oremus 35 to which is given the reply u Flcetamus genua” with “ Leuate,” and the last prayer is said over the kneeling exorcists: cc Holy Lord, Almighty Father, Eternal God vouchsafe to bless these thy servants to the


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 209

office of Exorcists ; that by the imposition of our hands and the words of our mouth they may have power and authority to govern and restrain all unclean spirits : that they may be skilful physicians for Thy Church, that they may heal many and be themselves strengthened with all Heavenly Graeco Through Our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son who with Thee liveth and reigneth in the unity of the Holy Spirit one God world without end. 22. Amen. 55 And then, at a sign from the Archdeacon, they return to their places. 38

It should be remarked that the Exorcist is specifically ordained “ to cast out demons, 55 and he receives “ power i o place his (your) hands upon the possessed, so that by the imposition of his (your) hands, 30 the grace of the Holy Ghost, and the words of exorcism, evil spirits are dri\en out from the bodies of the possessed. 55 The very striking train spiritualis imperator is strictly applied 1o him, and God the Father is earnestly entreated to grant him the grace ec to cast out demons from the bodies of the possessed with all their many sleights of wickedness. 55 Nothing could be plainer, nothing could be more solemn, nothing could be more pregnant with meaning and intention. The Outer and delegated power of Exorcists cannot be minimized ; at least, so to do is clean contrary to the mind of the Church as emphatically expressed in her most author]t,alive rites. In actual practice the office of Exorcist has almost wholly been taken over by clerics in major orders, but this, of course, in no way affects the status and authority of the second of the four minor orders.

Every priest, more especially perhaps if he be a parish priest, is liable to be called npon to perform his duty as Exorcist. In doing so he must carefully hear in mind and adhere to the prescriptions of the Ritual c Romamim , and he will do well to have due regard to the laws of provincial or diocesan synods, which for the most part require that the Bishop should be consulted and Ms authorization obtained before exorcism be essayed.

The chief points of importance in Hie detailed instructions under twenty-one heads prefixed to the rite in the Jiiluale may thus be briefly summarized : (1) The priest or exorcist should be of mature age, humble, of blameless life, courageous, of experience, and well-attested prudence* It is fitting he

p


210 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


should prepare himself for his task by special acts of devotion and mortification, by fervent pra}^er and by fasting (S. Mat¬ thew xvii. 20). (2) He must be a man of scholarship and

learning, a systematic student and well versed in the latest trends and developments of psychological science. (3) Pos¬ session is not lightly to be taken for granted. Each case is to be carefully examined and great caution to be used m distinguishing genuine possession from certain forms of disease. (4) He should admonish the possessed in so far as the latter is capable, to dispose himself for the exorcism by prayer, fasting, by confession, and Holy Communion, and while the rite is in progress he must excite in his heart a most lively faith in the goodness of God, and perfect resignation to the divine will. (5) The exorcism should take place in the Church, or some other sacred place, if convenient, but no crowd of gazers must be suffered to assemble out of mere curiosity. There should, however, be a number of witnesses, grave and devout persons of standing, eminent respectability, and acknowledged probity, not prone to idle gossip, but discreet and silent. If on account of sickness or for some legitimate reason the exorcism takes place in a private house it is well that members of the family should be present ; especially is this enjoined, as a measure of precaution, if the subject be a woman. (6) If the patient seems to fall asleep, or endeavours to hinder the exorcist in any way during the rite he is to continue, if possible with greater insistence, for such actions are probably a ruse to trick him. (7) The exorcist, although humble and having no reliance upon himself alone, is to speak with command and authority, and should the patient be convulsed or tremble, let him be more fervent and more insistent; the prayers and adjurations are to be recited with great faith, a full and assured con¬ sciousness of power. (8) Let the exorcist remember that he uses the words of Holy Scripture and Holy Church, not his own words and phrases. (9) All idle and impertinent questioning of the demon is to be avoided, nor should the evil spirit be allowed to speak at length unchecked and unrebuked. (10) The Blessed Sacrament is not to be brought near the body of the obsessed during exorcism for fear of possible irreverence ; Relies of the Saints may be employed* but in this case every care must be most scrupulously


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 211

observed that all due veneration be paid to them ; the Crucifix and Holy Water are to be used. (11) If expulsion of the evil spirit, who will often prove obstinate, is not secured at once, the rite should be repeated as often as need be.

It will be seen that the Church has safeguarded exorcism with extraordinary precautions, and that everything which is humanly possible to prevent superstition, indecorum, or abuse is provided for and recommended. Again and again the warning is repeated that so solemn, and indeed terrible, an office must not lightly be undertaken. The actual form in present use is as follows : 40

THE FORM OF EXORCISING THE POSSESSED (Translated from the “Roman Ritual,”]

The Priest , having confessed , or at least hating sin in his heart , and having said Mass, if it possibly and, conveniently can he done , and humbly 'implored the J)ivine help , vested in surplice and violet stole , the end of which he shall place round the neck of the one possessed , ami having the possessed pet son before him , and hound if there be danger of violence, shall sign himself the person , a/nd those standing by , with the sign of the Cross , and sprinkle them with holy wafer , and kneeling down* the others making the responses , shall say the Litany as far as* the prayers.

Ai the end the Antiphon . Remember not, Lord, our offences, nor the offences of our fore lathers, neither take Thou vengeance of our sins.

Our Father. Secretly .

y And lead us not into temptation.

R/ Rut deliver us from evil.

Psalm liii.

Deus% in Nomine .

The whole shall be said with Glory be to the Father.

y. Save Thy servant,

RA O my God, that putteth his trust in Thee.

y. Be unto him, O Lord, a strong tower,

R/. From the face of his enemy.


212 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Let the enemy have no advantage of him,

K/. Nor the son of wickedness approach to hurt him.

f'* Send him help, O Lord, from the sanctuary,

R/\ And strengthen him out of Sion.

y. Lord, hear my prayer,

R ], And let my cry come unto Thee.

f. The Lord be with you,

R 7 . And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

O God, Whose property is ever to have mercy and to forgive : receive our supplications and prayers, that of Thy mercy and loving-kindness Thou wilt set free this Thy servant (or handmaid) who is fast bound by the chain of his sins.

O holy Lord, Father Almighty, Eternal God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ : Who hast assigned that tyrant and apostate to the fires of hell; and hast sent Thine Only Begotten Son into the world, that He might bruise him as he roars after his prey: make haste, tarry not, to deliver this man, created in Thine Own image and likeness, from ruin, and from the noon-day devil Send Thy fear, 0 Lord, upon the wild beast, which devoureth Thy vine. Grant Thy servants boldness to fight bravely against that wicked dragon, lest he despise them that put their trust in Thee, and say, as once he spake in Pharaoh : I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. Let Thy right hand in power compel him to depart from Thy servant N. (or Thy handmaid N.) fa that he dare no longer to hold him captive, whom Thou hast vouchsafed to make in Thine image, and hast redeemed in Thy Son; Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

Then he shall command the spirit in this manner.

I command thee, whosoever thou art, thou unclean spirit, and all thy companions possessing this servant of God, that by the Mysteries of the Incarnation, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the sending of the Holy Ghost, and by the Coming of the same our Lord


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


213


to judgment, thou tell me thy name, the day, and the hour of thy going out, by some sign : and, that to me, a minister of God, although unworthy, thou be wholly obedient in all things : nor hurt this creature of God, or those that stand by, or their goods in any way.

Then shall these Gospels, or one or the other , he read over the possessed .

The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. John L 1. As he says these words he shall sign himself and the possessed on the forehead, mouth , and breast. In the beginning was the Word . . . full of grace and truth.

The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Mark xvl. 15. At that time : Jesus spake unto His disciples : Go ye into all the world . . . shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Luke

x. 17. At that time : The seventy returned again with joy . . . because your names are written in heaven.

The Lesson of the Holy Gospel according to S. Luke

xi. 14. At that time : Jesus was casting out. a devil, and it was dumb . . . wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

y. Lord, hear my prayer,

R/. And let my cry come unto Thee.

y. The Lord be with you,

R/. And with thy Spirit.

  • Let us pray.

Almighty Lord, Word of God the Father, Jesus Christ, God and Lord of every creature ; Who didst give to Thy Holy Apostles power to tread upon serpents and scorpions ; Who amongst other of Thy wonderful commands didst vouchsafe to say—Put the devils to flight: by Whose power Satan fell from heaven like lightning; with supplication I beseech Thy Holy Name in fear and trembling, that to me Thy most unworthy servant, granting me pardon of all my faults, Thou wilt vouchsafe to give constancy of faith and power, that shielded by the might of Thy holy arm, in trust and safety I may approach to attack this cruel devil, through Thee, O Jesus Christ, the Lord our God, Who shalt come to judge the quick and the dead ? and the world by fire. Amen.


214 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Then defending himself and the possessed with the sign of the Cross, putting part of his stole round the neck, and his right hand upon the head of the possessed, firmly and with great faith he shall say what follows.

f. Behold the Cross of the Lord, flee ye of the contrary part,

Rj. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Hoot, of David, hath prevailed.

y. Lord, hear my prayer,

R 7 . And let my cry come unto Thee.

y. The Lord be with you,

R/. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

O God, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I call upon Thy Holy Name, and humbly implore Thy mercy, that Thou wouldest vouchsafe to grant me help against this, and every unclean spirit, that vexes this Thy creature. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ.

The Exoiicxsm.

I exorcise thee, most foul spirit, every coming in of the enemy, every apparition, every legion ; in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ be rooted out, and be put to flight from this creature of God ►£<. He commands thee, Who has bid thee be cast down from the highest heaven inlo the lower parts of the earth. He commands thee. Who has commanded the sea, the winds, and the storms. Hear therefore, and fear, Satan, thou injurcr of the faith, thou enemy of the human race, thou procurer of death, thou destroyer of life, kindler of vices, seducer of men, betrayer of the nations, inciter of envy, origin of avarice, cause of discord, stirrer-up of troubles : why standest tliou, and resistest, when thou knowest that Christ the Lord destroyest thy ways ? Fear Him, Who was sacrificed in Isaac, Who was sold in Joseph, was slain in the Lamb, was crucified in man, thence was the triumpher over hell. The following signs of the Cross shall be made upon the forehead of the possessed. Depart therefore in the Name of the Father ►£, and of the Son and of the Holy ^ Ghost: give place to the Holy Ghost, by this sign of the holy >-p Cross


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


215


of Jesus Christ our Lord : Who with the Father, and the same Holy Ghost, liveth and rcignetli ever one God, world without end. Amen.

y. Lord, hear my prayer.

R 7 . And let my cry come unto Thee.

y. The Lord be with you.

R 7 . And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

O God, the Creator and Protector of the human race, "Who hast formed man in Thine own Image ; look upon this Thy servant N. (or this Thy handmaid H.), who is grievously vexed with the wiles of an unclean spirit., whom the old adversary, the ancient enemy of the earth, encompasses with a horrible dread, and blinds the senses of his human under¬ standing with stupor, confounds him with terror, and harasses him with trembling and fear. Drive away, () Lord, the power of the devil, take a,way his deceit fu! snares : led, the* impious tempter fly far hence : let Thy servant be defended by the sign Kp (on Ms forehead) of Thy Name*, and be* safe both in body, and soul. (The three following crosses shall he wade on the breast of the demoniac .) Do Thou guard his inmost soul, Thou rule his inward Kp parts, Thou strengthen his heart. Let the attempts of the opposing power in his soul vanish away. Grant, O Lord, graee to this invocation of Thy most Holy Name, that he who up to this present was causing terror, may flee away affrighted, and depart con¬ quered ; and that this Thy servant, strengthened in heart, and sincere in mind, may render Thee his due service. Through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Exorcism.

I adjure thee, thou old serpent, by the Judge of the quick and the dead, by thy Maker, and the Maker of the world ; by Him, Who hath power to put thee into hell, that thou depart in haste from this servant of God N., who returns to the bosom of the Church, with thy fear and with the torment of thy terror. I adjure Thee again (on his forehead ), not in my infirmity, but by the power of the Holy Ghost, that thou go out of this servant of God N,, whom the Almighty


216 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

God hath made in His Own Image. Yield, therefore, not to me, but to the minister of Christ. For His power presses upon thee Who subdued thee beneath His Cross. Tremble at His arm, which, after the groanings of hell were subdued, led forth the souls into light. Let the body ►£« (on Ms breast) of man be a terror to thee, let the image of God ^ (on Ms forehead) be an alarm to thee. Resist not, nor delay to depart from this person, for it has pleased Christ to dwell in man. And think not that I am to be despised, since thou knowest that I too am so great a sinner. God hp commands thee. The majesty of Christ k[h commands thee. God the Father commands thee. God the Son commands thee. God the Holy Ghost commands thee. The Sacrament of the Cross >p commands thee. The faith of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the other Saints commands thee. The blood of the Martyrs commands thee. The stedfast- ness ( contineniia ) of the Confessors commands thee. The devout intercession of all the Saints commands thee. The virtue of the Mysteries of the Christian Faith commands thee. Go out, therefore, thou transgressor. Go out, thou seducer, full of all deceit and wile, thou enemy of virtue, thou persecutor of innocence. Give place, thou most dire one ; give place, thou most impious one : give place to Christ in Whom thou hast found nothing of thy works : Who hath overcome thee, Who hath destroyed thy kingdom, Who hath led thee captive and bound thee, and hath spoiled thy goods : Who hath cast thee into outer darkness, where for thee and thy servants everlasting destruction is prepared. But why, O fierce one, dost thou withstand ? why, rashly bold, dost thou refuse ? thou art the accused of Almighty God, whose laws thou hast broken. Thou art the accused of Jesus Christ our Lord, whom thou hast dared to tempt, and presumed to crucify. Thou art the accused of the human race, to whom by thy persuasion thou hast given to drink thy poison. Therefore, I adjure thee, most wicked dragon, in the Name of the immaculate Lamb, Who treads upon the lion and adder, Who tramples under foot the young lion and the dragon, that thou depart from this man hp (lei the sign be made upon his forehead ), that thou depart from the Church of God >p (let the sign be made over those who are standing by) : tremble, and flee away at the calling upon the Name of that Lord, of Whom


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 217

hell is afraid ; to Whom the Virtues, the Powers, and the Dominions of the heavens are subject; Whom Cherubim and Seraphim with unwearied voices praise, saying : Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth. The Word >J< made Flesh commands thee, tie Who was bom of the Virgin com¬ mands thee. Jesus Kp of Nazareth commands thee ; Who, although thou didst despise His disciples, bade thee go bruised and overthrown out of the man : and in his presence, having separated thee from him, thou didst not presume to enter into the herd of swine. Therefore, thus now adjured in His Name ►p, depart from the man, whom He has formed. It is hard for thee to wish to resist It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks >p. Because the more slowly goest thou out, does the greater punishment increase against thee, for thou despisest not men, but Him, Who is Lord both of the quick and the dead. Who shall come lo judge the quick and the dead, and the World by lire. E 7 . Amen.

'f* Lord, hear my prayer.

K 7 . And let my cry come unto thee.

"f* The Lord be with you.

R/. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

O God of heaven, God of earth, God of the Angels, God of the Archangels, God of the Prophets, God of the Apostles, God of the Martyrs, God of the Virgins, God, Who hast the power to give life after death, rest after labour ; because there is none other God beside Thee, nor could be true, but Thou, the Creator of heaven and earth, Who art the true King, and of Whose kingdom there shall be no end ; humbly I beseech Thy glorious majesty, that Thou wouldest vouch¬ safe to deliver this Thy servant from unclean spirits, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

T\m ExoiuasM.

I therefore adjure thee, thou most foul spirit, every appearance, every inroad of Satan, in the Name of Jesus Christ vp of Nazareth, Who, after His baptism in Jordan, was led into the wilderness, and overcame thee in thine own stronghold ; that thou cease to assault him whom He hath


218 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

formed from the dust of the earth for His own honour and glory : and that thou in miserable man tremble not at human weakness, but at the image of Almighty God. Yield, there¬ fore, to God bp Who by His servant Moses drowned thee and thy malice in Pharaoh and his army m the depths of the sea. Yield to God ►p, Who put thee to ilight when driven out of King Saul with spiritual song, by his most faithful servant David. Yield thyself to God ►p, Who condemned thee in the traitor Judas Iscariot. For He touches thee with Divine ip stripes, when in His sight, trembling and crying out with thy legions, thou saidst : What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Son of the Most High God ? Art Thou come hither to torment us before the time ? He presses upon thee with perpetual flames, Who shall say to the wicked at the end of time—Depart from Me, yc cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For thee, O impious one, and for thy angels, is the worm that dieth not; for thee and thy angels is the fire unquenchable prepared : for thou art the chief of accursed murder, thou the author of incest, thou the head of sacrileges, thou the master of the worst actions, thou the teacher of heretics, thou the instigator of all uncleanness. Therefore go out p, thou wicked one, go out bp, thou infamous one, go out with all thy deceits ; for God hath willed that man shall be His temple. But why dost thou delay longer here ? Give honour to God the Bather p Almighty, before Whom every knee is bent. Give place to Jesus Christ p the Lord, Who shed for man His most precious Blood. Give place to the Holy bp Ghost, Who by Ills blessed Apostle Peter struck thee to the ground in Simon Magus ; Who condemned thy deceit in Ananias and Sappbira; Who smote thee in Herod, because he gave not God the glory ; Who by his Apostle Paul smote thee in Elymas the sorcerer with a mist and darkness, and by the same Apostle by his word of command bade thee come out of the damsel possessed with the spirit of divination. Now therefore depart bp, depart, thou seducer. The wilderness is thy abode. The serpent is the place of thy habitation : be humbled, and be overthrown. There is no time now for delay. For behold the Lord the Ruler approaches closely upon thee, and His fire shall glow before Him, and shall go before llim ; and shall burn up His enemies on every side. If thou hast deceived


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


219


man, at God thou canst not scoff : One expels thee, from Whose Sight nothing is hidden. He easts thee out, to Whose power all things are subject. He shuts thee out, Who hast prepared for thee and for thine angels everlasting hell ; out of Whose mouth the sharp sword shall go out, when He shall come to judge the quick and the dead, and the World by (ire. fltuen.

All the aforesaid things being said and clone , so far as there shall be need , they shall be repeated, until the possessed person be entirely set free.

The following which are noted down zvill he of great assistance , said devoutly over the possessed , and also frequently to repeat the Our Father, Hail Mary, and Creed.

The Canticle . Magniheat.

The Cantide . Benedietus.

The Creed of S. Athanasius .

Qmcinique unit.

Psalm xe. Qui habitat .

Psalm Ixvii. Ihmrgal Dens .

Psalm Ixix. Dens in adiutoriunu

Psalm hii. Dens, In Nomine Tuo.

Psalm exvii. Confiiemini Domino .

Psalm xxxiv. Tudica , J)ermine.

Psalm xxx. In TV, 1)amine, speraui .

Psalm xxi. Dens , Dens mens .

Psalm iii. Domine , quid multiplicasli ?

Psalm x. In Domino confute).

Psalm xii. Usquequo , Domine ?

Da eh Psalm shall be said ivilh (dory be to i lie Father, &c. Prayer after being set free.

We pray Thee, O Almighty God, that the spirit of wicked¬ ness may have no more power over this Thy servant N. (or Thy handmaid N.), but that he may flee away, and never come back again : at Thy bidding, O Lord, let there come into him (or her) the goodness and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have been redeemed, and let us fear no evil, for the Lord is with us. Who liveth and reignefch with Thee, in the Unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. R/. Amen*


220 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

A shorter form of exorcism, which, being general, differs in aim and use, was published by order of Pope Leo XIII and may be found in the later editions of the Rituale Romanum, 44 Exorcismus in Satanam et Angelos aposta- licos.” 41 After the customary invocation In nomine . . . the rite begins with a pra} r cr to S. Michael, the solemn adjuration of some length follows with versicles and responses, a second prayer is next recited, and the whole concludes by three aspirations from the Litany : 44 From the deceits and crafts of the Devil; O Lord, deliver us. That it may please Thee to rule Thy Church so it shall alway serve Thee in last¬ ing peace and true liberty ; We beseech Thee, hear us. That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to beat down and subdue all the enemies of Thy Holy Church ; We beseech Thee, hear us. 55 And the place is sprinkled with Holy Water , 42 is the final rubric.

The Baptismal Exorcism and exorcisms such as those of water, salt, 43 and oil, it were perhaps impertinent to treat of here. It may, however, be noticed that in the ceremony of the Blessing of the Waters 44 (approved by the Sacred Congregation of Rites, 6 December, 1890), performed on the Vigil of the Epiphany, there occurs a solemn 44 Exorcismus contra Satanam ct Angelos apostalicos,” followed by 44 Exor¬ cismus salis 55 and 44 Exorcismus aquae. 35

There are recorded throughout history innumerable examples of obsession and demoniacal possession, as also of potent and successful exorcism. It is, of course, quite possible, and indeed probable, that many of these cases were due to natural causes, epilepsy, acute hysteria, incipient lunacy, and the like. But, none the less, when every allowance has been made for incorrect diagnosis, for in-informed ascriptions of rare and obscure forms of both physical and mental maladies, for credulity, honest mistakes, and exaggerations of every kind, there will yet remain a very considerable quota which it seems impossible to account for and explain save on the score of possession by some evil and hostile intelligence. But nobody is asked to accept all the instances of diabolic possession recorded in the history of the Church, nor even to form any definite opinion upon the historical evidence in favour of any particular case. That is primarily a matter for historical and medical science, And, perhaps, even at


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 221

the present day and among civilized races this phenomenon is not so rare as is popularly supposed.

The annals of Bedlam, of many a private madhouse, and many an asylum could tell strange and hideous histories. And if we may judge from the accounts furnished by the pioneers of the Faith in missionary countries the evidences of diabolical agency there are as clearly defined and un¬ mistakable as they were in Galilee in the time of Christ . 45

Demoniacal possession is frequently described and alluded to by the early fathers and apologists in matter-of-fact terms which leave no shadow of doubt as to their belief in this regard. Indeed the success of Christum exorcism is often brought forward as an argument for the acceptance of the Divinity of the founder of Christianity. It would be an easy, but a very lengthy process, to make a catena of such passages from Greek and Latin authors alike. 40 S. Justin Martyr (ob. circa a.d. 165) speaks of demons Hying from “ the touch and breathing of Christians 55 (Apologia, II, 0), 64 as from a flame that burns them,” adds S. Cyril of Jerusalem (ob.

  1. 85-0 : Catechcsis , XX. ,8). Origen (oh, 258- 4) mentions the

laying on of hands to east out devils, whilst S. Ambrose 47 (ob. 397), S. Ephrem Syrus 48 (ob. 878), and others used this ceremony when exorcizing. The holy sign of the Cross also is extolled by many Fathers for its ellieaey against all kinds of diabolic molestation ; thus Lactantius writes : “ Nunc

satis est, hmus sign! [CrucisJ potentiam, quantum ualeat exponere. Quanto terror! sit daunonilms hoc signum, seiet, qui uiderit, quatenus adiurati per Christum, do eorporibus, quae obsederint, fugiant,” 40 Dininarwm Instibutiomm , IV, xxvii. 50 S. Athanasius (ob. 878), JJe Jncarnutione Uerbi, XLVII; S. Basil (ob. 879), In Emiatn , XI, 249 ; S. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesi9 , XIfI ; S. Gregory of Mazianzus (ob. circa 889), Carmen adnerms I ram, 415 xqc/., all have passages of no little weight to the same effect. S. Cyril, Procateclie$w 9 IX; and S. Athanasius, Ad Marcdlum , XXI1J, recom¬ mend that the prayers of exorcism and the adjuration should as far as possible repeat the exact words of Holy Scripture.

In the annals of hagiography we fmd from the earliest days until our own time very many instances of possession, very many cases where a poor afflicted wretch has been released


222 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


and relieved by the power and prayer of some Saint or holy servant of God. 51

' Thus in the life of S. Benedict, that noble, calm, dignified, prudent, great-souled, and high-minded hero, there arc recorded several occasions upon which he was confronted by extraordinary manifestations of evil spirits who resisted the building of his monastery upon the crest of Monte Cassino, where Satanism had been previously practised. It is not said that there were any visible appearances, save to S. Benedict alone, 52 but a succession of untoward accidents, of abnormal occurrences and constant alarms, plainly show T cd that the Saint was contending against superhuman difficulties. More than once he found it necessary to exorcize certain of his monks, 53 and so marked was his triumph over these malignant and destructive influences that he has always been venerated in the Church as a most potent “ elTugator damionum,” and is confidently invoked in the hour of spiritual peril and deadly attack, Great faith also is placed in the Medal of Saint Benedict, This medal, originally a cross, is dedicated to the devotion in honour of the Patriarch. One side bears the figure of the Saint holding a cross in his right hand, and the Holy Rule in his left. Upon the other is a cross together with the following letters arranged on and around it : C.S.P.B., Crux Sancti Patns Bencdieti (The Cross of the holy Father Benedict). C.S.S.M.L., Crux Sacra, Sit Mihi Lux (May the holy Cross be my Light). N.D.S.M.D., Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux (Let not the Devil be my guide). U.R.S. ; N.S.M.U. : S.M.Q.L. : LU.B. : Uade Retro Satana : Nunquam Suade Mihi Uana : Sunt Mala Quae Lihas : Ipse Ucnena Bibas, (Begone, Satan, never suggest things to me, what thou offerest is evil, drmk thou thyself thy poison). 54 The ct Centenary ” form of the medal (struck at Monte Cassino in 1880 to commemorate the 3 3tli centenary of the birth of S, Benedict in 480) has under the figure the words : Ecc S.M . Cassino MDCCCLXXX . Upon the same side round the edge runs the inscription : Eius m obitu nro prsesentia muniamur (May we be protected by his presence at the hour of our death), and the word PAX appears above the cross.

It is doubtful when the Medal of S. Benedict originated, but during a trial for Witchcraft at Natternberg, near the


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 223

abbey of Metten, in Bavaria, during the year 1647, the accused women testified that they had no power over Metten which was under the particular protection of the cross. Upon investigation a number of painted crosses surrounded by the letters which are now engraved upon Benedictine medals were found on the walls of the abbey, but their signification had been wholly forgotten. At length, in an old manuscript, written in 1 1-15, was discovered a picture representing S. Benedict holding in one hand a staff which ended in a cross, and in the other a scroll. On the staff and scroll were written in full the formulas of which the mysterious letters were the initials. Medals with the figure of S. Benedict, a cross, and these letters began now to be struck and rapidly spread over Europe. The medals were first authoritatively approved by Benedict XIV in Ins briefs of 23 December, 174-1, and 12 March, 171-2.

In the ease of the possessed boys of Illfurt (Alsace) they exhibited the utmost horror and dread of a Medal of S. Benedict.

These medals are hallowed with a proper rite 55 in which the adjuration commences : 44 Exoreixo uos, numismata, per Deurn Bahrein omnipotentem. . . A 44 1 exorcize ye, medals, through God the Father ►£< Almighty. . . . May the power of the adversary, all the host of the Devil, all evil attack, every spirit and glamour of Satan, be utterly put to flight and driven far away by the virtue of these medals. . . , 56 The prayer runs : 44 () Lord Jesus Christ ... by Thy most Holy Passion I humbly pray and beseech Thee, that Thou wouldest grant that whosoever devoutly invokedh Thy Holy Name in this prayer and petition which Thou Thyself hast taught us, may be delivered from every deceit of the Devil and from all his wiles, and that Thou wouklcst vouchsafe to bring Thy servant to the harbour of salvation. Who lives! and reign est. . , A 57

S. Matirus also, the beloved disciple of S. Benedict, was famous for the cures he wrought in eases of possession. 6B Visiting France in 543 lie became founder and superior of the abbey of Glanfeuil, Anjou, later known by his name, St. Maur-sur-Loise. 59 The relics of S. Maurus after various translations were finally enshrined at St. (iermain-des-Prez. In the eleventh century an arm of the Saint had been with


224 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

great devotion transferred to Monte Cassino, where by its touch a demoniac was delivered. This is related by Desi- derius, 60 who was abbot at that time, and afterwards became Pope, Blessed Victor III (ob. 16 September, 1087). Through¬ out the Middle Ages the tomb of S. Maur at St. Germain was a celebrated place of pilgrimage, and the possessed were brought here in large numbers to be healed. 61

The Holy Winding Sheet of Besangon, again, was greatly resorted to for the relief and cure of possession. This venerable relic, being one of the linen cloths used at the burial of Christ, was brought to Besangon in 1206 by Otto de la Roche, and the feast of its arrival ( Suscepiio) was ordered to be kept on 11 July* At present it is a double of the first class in the cathedral, St. Jean, and of the second class throughout the diocese.

Novenas made in the church at Bonnet, near Nantes, were popularly supposed to be of especial efficacy in healing possession.

It is, of course, impossible even briefly to catalogue the most important and striking of the numberless cases of possession recorded throughout the centuries in every country and at every era. Of these a great number are, no doubt, to be attributed to disease ; very many to a commixture of hysteria and semi-conscious, or more frequently unconscious, fraud ; some few to mere chousing ; and, if human evidence is worth anything at all, many actually to diabolic influence.

There were some curious episodes in England during Queen Elizabeth’s reign, when a third-rate Puritan minister, John Darrel, made a considerable stir owing to his attempts at exorcism. This idea seems to have been suggested to him by the exorcisms of the famous Jesuit missionary priest, William Weston, who after having been educated at Oxford, Paris, and Douai, entered the Society on 5 November, 1575, at Rome. He then worked and taught in Spain, until he was called to his native mission, actually arriving in England, 20 September, 1584. In the course of his labours, which at that dangerous time were carried on in circum¬ stances of extremest peril, he was required to perform the rite of exorcism upon several distressed persons, who were for the most part brought f o him at the houses of two zealous Catholics, Sir George Peckham of Denham, near Uxbridge,


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


225


and Lord Vaux of Hackney, both of which gentlemen had suffered in many ways for their faith. With regard to the patients we can only say that we lack evidence to enable us to decide whether the cases were genuine, or whether they were merely sick and ailing folk ; but we can confidently affirm that there is no suspicion of any fraud or cozenage. Father Weston is acknowledged to have been a man of the most candid sincerity, intensely spiritual, and of no ordinary powers. Although the rites, in which several priests joined, were performed with the utmost secrecy and every precaution was taken to prevent any report being spread abroad, some¬ body gossiped, and in about a year various exaggerated accounts were being circulated, until the matter came before the Privy Council. A violent recrudescence of persecution at once followed, many of the exorcists were seized and butchered for their priesthood, the rest, including Weston, were flung into jail, August, 1586. A long period of imprison¬ ment ensued, and in 1599 Weston was committed to i he Tower, where he suffered such hardships that he wellnigh lost his sight. Eventually in 1 GOS he was banished, and spent the rest of his days at Seville and Valladolid. He was rector of the latter college a,l the time of his deal In 9 June, 1015. 62

It was in 1586, just when the exorcisms of ihe Jesuit fathers had unfortunately attracted so widespread attention and foolish comment, that John Darrel, although a Pro¬ testant and lacking both appropriate ordination and training, rashly resolved to emulate their achievements. He was young, not much more than twenty, lie was foolhardy and he was ignorant, three qualities which even in our own time often win cheap notoriety. It seems that lie was first called in to cure a young girl of seventeen, Katherine Wright, who lived at Mansfield, Nottingham. Darrel forthwith pronounced that she was afflicted by an evil spirit, and he prayed over her from four o’clock in the morning till noon, but entirely without result. He then declared that the wen eh had been bewitched and that the demon, moreover, was sent by one Margaret Roper, with whom the patient had recently quar¬ relled. The girl backed his story, and the accused woman was at once taken into custody by the constable. When, however, she appeared before Mr, Fouliamb, a justice of the o


226 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

peace, not only was she incontinently discharged, but Darrel received a smart rebuff and found himself in no small danger of arrest.

This mischance sufficiently scared the would-be exorcist, and for some ten years he disappeared from view, only to come before the public again at Burton-upon-Trent, where he was prominent in the sensation and the scandal that centred round Thomas Darling, a young Derbyshire boy. This imaginative juvenal was subject to fits—real or feigned —during which he had visions of green angels and a green cat. Betimes his conversation became larded with true Puritan cant, and he loved to discourse with godly ministers. A credulous physician suggested that the lad was bewitched, and very soon afterwards it was noticed that the reading aloud of the Bible, especially certain verses in the first chapter of S. John’s Gospel, threw him into frantic convulsions. He also began a long prattling tale about 6C a little old woman 95 who wore “ a broad thrimmed hat,” which proved amply sufficient to cause two women, Elizabeth Wright, and her daughter, Alse Gooderidge, long vehemently suspected of sorcery, to be examined before two magistrates, who com¬ mitted Alse to jail. Next those concerned summoned a cunning man, who used various rough methods to induce the prisoner to confess. After having been harried and even tortured the wretched creature made some rambling and incoherent acknowledgements of guilt, which were twisted into a connected story. By now Darling had been ill for three months, and so far from improving, was getting worse.

At this juncture, exactly the dramatic moment, John Darrel, full of bluff and bounce, appeared upon the scene, and forth¬ with took charge of affairs. According to his own account his efforts were singularly blessed ; that is to say the boy got better and the sly Puritan claimed all the credit. Alse Gooderidge was tried at the assizes, convicted by the jury, and sentenced to death by Lord Chief Justice Anderson; “ She should have been executed but that her spirit killed her in prison,” says John Denison the pamphleteer I The whole affair greatly increased Darrel’s reputation.

Not long after a much-bruited case of alleged possession


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


227


In Lancashire gave him further opportunity to pose in the limelight. Ann Starchic, aged nine, and John, her brother, aged ten, were seized with a mysterious disorder; 44 a certaine fearefull starting and pulling together of her body 35 affected the girl, whilst the boy was 44 compelled to shout* 5 on his way to school. Both grew steadily worse until their father, Nicholas Starchic, consulted Edmund Hartley, a notorious conjurer of no very fair repute. Hartley seems to have quieted the children by means of various charms, and the father paid him something like a retaining fee of forty shillings a year. This, however, he insisted should be in¬ creased, and when any addition was denied, there were quarrels, and presently the boy and girl again fell ill. The famous Dr. Dec was summoned, but he whs obviously non¬ plussed, and whilst he 44 sharply reproved and sfrailly examined 33 Hartley, m his quandary could do or say little more save advise the help of 44 godlie preachers. 53 The situation in that accursed house now began to grow more serious. Besides the children three young wards of Mr. Starchic, a servant, and a visitor, were all seized with the strange disease. 44 All or most of them joined together in a strange and supernatural loud whupping that the house and grounde did soundc therwith again. 33 Hartley fell under suspicion, and was haled before a justice of the peace, who promptly committed him to the assizes. Evidence was given that he was continually kissing the Starchic children, in fact, he kept embracing all the possessed, and it was argued that he had thus communicated an evil spirit to them. He was accused of having drawn magic circles upon the ground, and although he stoutly denied the charge, he was convicted of felony and hanged at Lancaster. John Darrel and his assistant, George More, minister of a church in Derbyshire, undertook to exorcize the afflicted, and m a day or two, after long prayers and great endeavours, they managed to expel the devils. Here wc have folly, imposture, and hysteria all blended together to make a horrible tale.

At this time Darrel was officiating as a minister at Notting¬ ham, where there happened to be living a young apprenticed musician, a clever and likely lad, William Somers, who some years before had met Darrel at Ashby-dc-la*Zouch, where both had been resident. It appears that the boy had once



228 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


met a strange woman, whom he offended In some way, and suddenly he “ did use such strang and Idle kinde of gestures In laughing, dancing, and such like lighte behaviour, that he was suspected to be madd.” The famous exorcist was sent for on the 5th of November, 1597, and forthwith recognized the signs of possession. The lad was suffering for the sins of Nottingham. Accordingly sermons were delivered and prayers were read m true ranting fashion, and when Darrel named one after the other fourteen signs of possession the patient, who had been most carefully coached, illustrated each in turn.

It is possible that Darrel had to some extent mesmeric control over Somers, whose performance was of a very remarkable nature at least, for “ he tore ; he foamed ; he wallowed; his face was drawn awry ; his eyes would stare and his tongue hang out”; together with a thousand other such apish antics which greatly impressed the bystanders. Finally the boy lay as if dead for a quarter of an hour, and then rose up declaring he was well and whole.

However, obsession followed possession. The demon still assailed him, and it was not long before Master Somers accused thirteen women of having contrived his maladies by their sorcery. Darrel, the witch-finder, had by this time attained a position of no small Importance in the town, being chosen preacher at S. Mary’s, and he was prepared to back his pupil to the uttermost. Yet even his influence for some reason did not serve, and all but two of the women concerned were released from prison. Next certain unbelieving citizens had the bad taste to interfere, and to carry off the chief actor to the house of correction, where he pretty soon confessed his impostures, In which, as he acknowledged, lie had been carefully instructed by Darrel. The matter now became a public scandal, and upon the report of the Archdeacon of Derby the Archbishop of York appointed a commission to inquire into the facts. Brought before these ministers, not one of whom could possibly have had any means of forming a correct judgement, Somers retracted his words, asserted that he had been induced to slander Darrel, and thereat fell into such fits, foamings, and contortions that the ignoramuses were convinced of the reality of his demoniac possession.


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 229

At the Nottingham assizes, however, things went differ¬ ently. Summoned to court and encouraged by the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Edmund Anderson, 63 to tell the truth the wretched young man made a clean breast of all his tricks. The case against Alice Freeman, the accused, was dismissed, and Sir Edmund, shocked at the frauds, wrote a weighty letter to Whitgift, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Darrel and More were cited to the Court of High Commission, where Bancroft, Bishop of London, two of the Lord Chief Justices, the Master of Requests, and other high officials heard the case. It is obvious that Bancroft really controlled the examination from first to last, and that he combined the roles of prosecutor and judge. Somers now told the Court how he had been in constant communication with Darrel, how they had met secretly when Darrel taught him cc to doc all those trickes which Katherine Wright did 53 and later sent him to .see and learn of the boy of Burton. In fact Darrel made him go through a whole series of antics again and again in his presence, and it was after all these pre¬ liminaries and practice that the lad posed as a possessed person at Nottingham and was prayed over and exhibited. The vulpine Puritan was fairly caught. No doubt the Bishop of London may have been a trifle arbitrary, but after all he was dealing with a rank impostor. Darrel and More were deposed from the ministry, and committed to close prison.

The whole of this case is reported by Samuel Hamnett, chaplain to Bancroft, in a book of three hundred and twenty- four pages, A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel , Bachelor of Aries. . . . London, 1599, and a perfect rain of pamphlets followed. Both Darrel and More answered Harsnett, drawing meantime a number of other persons into the paper fray. We have such works as An Apologia , or defence of the possession of William Sommers , a young man of the lowne of Nottingham . . . . By John Darrell , Minister of Christ Jesus . , . a black letter brochure which is undated but may be safely assigned to 1599 ; The Triad of Moist Dorrel , or A Collection of Defences against Allegations . . * 1599; 64 and Darrel’s abusive A Detection of that sinnful , shamful , lying, and ridiculous discours of Samuel Harshnet, 1600. There are several allusions in contemporary dramatists


230 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

to the scandal, and Jonson in The Dwell is an Asse , acted in 1616, V, 8, has :

It is the easiest thing, Sir, to he done.

As plame as fizzling : roule but wi’ your eyes.

And foame at th’ mouth. A little castle-soape Will do’t, to rub your lips : And then a nutshell,

With toe and touchwood in it to spit lire,

Did you ner’e read, Sir, little Barrel's tricks,

With the boy o’ Burton , and the 7 in Lancashire ,

Sommers at Nottingham ? All these do teach it.

And weed give out. Sir, that your wife ha’s bewitch’d you.

It is probable that in his books Harsnett is to a large extent the mouthpiece of the ideas of Bancroft, 65 whose opinions must have carried no small weight seeing that in 1604 he became Archbishop of Canterbury. But Harsnett himself was also a man who could well stand alone, a divine marked out for the highest preferments. As Master of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, Vice-chancellor of that Uni¬ versity, Bishop of Chichester, Bishop of Norwich, and finally in 1628 Archbishop of York, 66 he was certainly one of the most prominent men of the day. His views, therefore, are not only of interest, but may be regarded as an expression of recognized Anglican authority. Bancroft, who was a bitter persecutor of Catholics, seems to have turned over a quantity of material he had collected to Harsnett, who in 1608 published a verjuiced attack upon the priesthood in particular and upon the supernatural in general under the title of A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures A 1 This violent and foolish polemic with its heavy periods of coarse ill-humour and scornful profanity jars upon the reader like the harsh screeching of some cankered scold. True, it has a certain force due to the very vehemence and elaborate gusto of the wrathful ecclesiastic, the force of Billingsgate and deafening vituperation bawled by leathern lungs and raucous tongue. As a sober argument, a reasoned contribu¬ tion to controversy and debate, the thing is negligible and has been wholly forgotten. Nevertheless, historically Harsnett and Bancroft are important, for it was the latter who drew up, or at least inspired, carried through Convocation, and at once enforced the Canons generally known as those of 1604, of which number 72 lays down: 66 No minister or ministers shall . . . without the license or direction (manda-


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


231


turn) of the Bishop * . . attempt upon any pretence what¬ soever either of possession or obsession, by fasting or prayer, to cast out any devil or devils, under pain of the imputation of imposture or cozenage, and deposition from the ministry. 55

This article seems definitely intended to fix the position of the Church of England. 08 The whole question of exorcism had, in common with every other point of Christian doctrine, caused the most acrid disagreement. The Lutherans retained exorcism in the baptismal rite and were both instant and persevering in their exorcisms of the possessed. Martin Luther himself had a most vivid realization of and the firmest belief in the material antagonism of evil. The black stain in the castle of Wartburg still marks the room where he flung his ink-horn at the Devil. The silly body, the blind, the dumb, the idiot, were, as often as not, a Hlieted by demons ; the raving maniac was assuredly possessed. Physicians might explain these evils as natural infirmity, but such physicians were ignorant men ; they did not know the craft and power of Satan. Many a poor wretch who was generally supposed to have committed suicide had in truth been seized by the Fiend and strangled by him. The Devil could beget children ; had not Luther himself come in contact with one of them At the close of the sixteenth century, however, an intermin¬ able and desperate struggle took place between the believers in exorcism and the Swiss and Silesian sectaries who entirely discarded exorcism, 70 either declaring it to have belonged only to the earliest years of Christianity or else trying to explain away the Biblical instances on purely rationalistic grounds. In England baptismal exorcism was retained in the First Prayer Book of 1549, but by 1552, owing to the authority of Martin Bucer, we find it entirely eliminated. Under Elizabeth the ever-increasing influence of Zurich and Geneva, to which completest deference was paid, thoroughly dis¬ credited exorcisms of any kind, and this misbelieving attitude is repeatedly and amply made clear in the sundry “ Apolo¬ gies 55 and ct Defences 55 of Jewel and his followers.

A letter of Archbishop Parker in 1574 71 with reference to the proven frauds of two idle wenches, Agnes Bridges and Rachel Binder, 72 shows that he was thoroughly sceptical as to the possibility of possession, and his successor, the stout old Calvinist Whitgift, was certainly of the same mind.


232 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


In 1603 five clergymen attempted exorcism in the case of Mary Glover, the daughter of a merchant in Thames Street, who was said to be possessed owing to the sorceries of a certain Elizabeth Jackson. John Swan, “ a famous Minister of the Gospel, 55 took the lead in this business, which made considerable noise at the time. The Puritans were not unnaturally anxious to vindicate their powers over the Devil and they seem avidly to have grasped at any such opportunity that offered. Swan did not fail to advertise his supposed triumph in A True and Breife Report of Mary Glover's Vexation and of her deliverance by the meanes of fasiinge and prayer , 1603 ; moreover, after her deliverance he took her home to be his servant “ least Satan should assault her again. 55 Old Mother Jackson was indicted, committed by Sir John Crook, the Recorder of London, and actually sentenced by Sir Edmund Anderson, the Lord Chief Justice, to be pilloried four times and be kept a year in prison. Unfortunately for the would-be exorcists and their pretensions King James, whose shrewd suspicions were aroused, sent to examine the girl, a physician, Dr. Edward Jorden, who detected her imposture, in which, I doubt not, she had been well coached by the Puritans. Dr. Jorden recounted the circumstance in bis pamphlet A briefe discourse of a disease called the Suffocation of the Mother , Written uppon occasion which hath beene of late taken thereby to suspect possession of an evill spirit (London, 1603). The ministers were extremely chagrined, and one Stephen Bradwcll even took up the cudgels in a tart rejoinder to Jorden, which was singularly futile as his lucubrations remain unpublished. 73 It is not improbable that this performance had its share of influence on Bancroft when he drew up article 72 of the 1604 Canons.

Francis Hutchinson in his Historical Essay on Witchcraft (171S) 74 doubts whether any Bishop of the Church of England ever granted a licence for exorcism to any one of his clergy; and indeed the case which is given by Dr. F. G. Lee, 75 who relates how Bishop Seth Ward of Exeter assigned a form under his own signature and seal in January, 1665, to the Rev. John Ruddle, vicar of Altarnon, is probably unique. And even so, this was not strictly speaking an instance of ex¬ orcism, at least there was no deliverance of a person possessed, Mr. Ruddle records in his MS. Diary that in a lonely field


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 233

belonging to the parish of Little Petherick 76 an apparition was seen by a lad aged about sixteen, the son of a certain Mr. Bligh. The ghost, which was that of one Dorothy Durant, who had died eight years before, appeared so frequently to the boy at this same spot which he was obliged to pass daily as he went to and from school, that he fell ill and at last confessed his fears to his family, who treated the matter with ridicule and scolded him roundly when they saw that jest and mockery were of no avail. Eventually Mr. Ruddle was sent for to argue him out of his foolishness. The vicar, however, was not slow to perceive that young Bligh was speaking the truth, and he forthwith accompanied his pupil to the field, where they both unmistakably saw the phantom just as had been described. After a little while Mr. Ruddle visited Exeter to interview his diocesan and obtain the necessary licence for the exorcism. The Bishop, however, asked : 44 On what authority do you allege that I am entrusted with faculty so to do? Our Church, as is well known, hath abjured certain branches of her ancient power, on grounds of perversion and abused 5 Mr. Ruddle quoted the Canons of XG04, and this appears to have satisfied the prelate, who called in his secretary and assigned a form 44 insomuch that the matter was incontinently done. 55 But the worthy vicar was not permitted to depart without a thoroughly characteristic caution: 44 Let it be secret, Mr. Ruddle,—weak brethren ! weak brethren ! 55 The MS. Diary gives some details of the manner in which the ghost was laid, and it is significant to read that the operator described a circle and a pentaele upon the ground further making use of a rowan 44 crutch 55 or wand. He mentions 44 a parchment scroll, 55 he spoke in Syriac and proceeded to demand as the books advise; he 44 went through the proper forms of dismissal and fulfilled all, as it was set down and written in my memoranda, 55 and then 44 with certain fixed rites 1 did dismiss that troubled ghost. 55 It would be interesting to know what form and ceremonies the Bishop prescribed. It docs not sound like the details of a Catholic exorcism, but rather some superstitious and magical ritual. From what is related the form can hardly have been arranged for the nonce.

Although exorcism was not recognized by Protestants


234 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


there are instances upon record where an appeal has been made by English country-folk for the ministrations of a Catholic priest. In April, 1815, Father Edward Peach of the Midland District, was implored to visit a young married woman named White, of King’s Norton, Worcestershire. She had for two months been afflicted with an extraordinary kind of illness which doctors could neither name nor cure. Her sister declared that a young man of bad repute, whose hand had been rejected, had sworn revenge and had employed the assistance of a reputed wizard at Dudley to work some mischief. However that might be, the unhappy girl seemed to lie at death’s door ; she raved of being beset day and night by spirits who mocked and moped at her, threatening to carry her away body and soul, and suggesting sclf-dcstruction as the only means to escape them. The clergyman of the parish visited and prayed with her, but no good resulted from all his endeavours. It so happened that a nurse who was called in was a Catholic, and horrified at the hideous ravings of the patient she procured a bottle of holy water, with which she sprinkled the room and bed. A few drops fell upon the sufferer, who uttered the most piercing cries, and screamed out, “You have scalded me! You have scalded me ! ” The paroxysm, however, passed, and she fell for the first time during many weeks into a sound slumber. After some slight improvement for eight and forty hours she was attacked by violent convulsions, and her relatives, in great alarm, on Tuesday in Rogation Week, 2 May, 1815, sent a special messenger to beg Father Peach to come over immediately.

When the priest appeared the girl was being held down in bed by two women who were forced to put forth all their strength, and as soon as she saw him—he was a complete stranger to her nor could his sacred profession be recognized by his attire—so terrible were her struggles that her husband was bound to lend his aid also to master her writhing limbs. Presently she fell into a state of complete exhaustion, and Father Peach, dismissing the rest of the company, was able to talk to her long and seriously. He seems to have been quite satisfied that it was a genuine case of diabolic possession, and his evidence, carefully expressed and marshalled with great moderation, leave no reasonable doubt that this strange


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 235

sickness owned no natural origin. In the course of conversa¬ tion it appeared that she had never been baptized. A simple instruction was given and finding her in excellent dispositions Father Peach at once baptized her. During the administra¬ tion of this sacrament she trembled like a leaf, and as the water fell upon her she winced pitifully, a spasm of agony distorting her countenance. She afterwards averred that it gave her as much pain as if boiling water had been poured upon her bare flesh. Immediately afterwards there followed a truly remarkable change in her health and spirits ; her husband and sister were overjoyed and thought it no less than a miracle. The next day Father Peach visited her again and noticed a rapid improvement. Save for a slight weakness she seemed perfectly restored, and, says the good father, writing a twelvemonth later than the event from notes he had taken at the time, there was no return, nor the least lingering symptom of her terrible and distressing malady.

In its issue of 11 October, 1925, The Sunday Escpress, under the heading cc Evil Spirit Haunts A Girl,” devoted a prominent column to the record of some extraordinary happenings. The account commences :

“ Haunted for twelve months and more by a mischievous spirit-—called a Poltergeist—driven almost to a state of distraction, threatened with a lunatic asylum, and then cured by the help of a hand of spirit Indians, is the extra¬ ordinary experience of the nineteen-year-old Gwynneth Morley, who lives with her widowed mother at Keighley, and who was employed in the spinning mills of Messrs. Hay and Wright.”

These phenomena were communicated to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who informed Mr. Hewet McKenzie, with the result that the girl was brought to London for psychic treatment, Mr. McKenzie being “ honorary principal of the British College of Psychic Science,” an institution which is advertised as the “Best equipped Centre for the study of Psychic Science in Britain,” and announces “ Lectures on Practical Healing,” “ Public Clairvoyance,” “ A Small Exhibition of notable water colours . . . representing Soul development, or experience of the Soul in ethereal conditions.” “ The- College ” is, I am given to understand, a well-known centre for spiritistic stances.


236 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

Gwynneth Morley worked in Mr. McKenzie’s family for three months 44 as a housemaid* under close observation* and receiving psychic treatment.

44 Day by day the amazing manifestations of her tormenting spirit were noted down. In between the new and full moon the disturbances were worse. Everything in the room in which Gwynneth happened to be would be thrown about and smashed. Tables were lifted and overturned* chairs smashed to pieces* bookcases upset* and heavy settees thrown over.

44 In the kitchen of Holland Park the preparation of meals* when Gwynneth was about* was a disconcerting affair. Bowls of water would be spilt and pats of butter thrown on the floor.

44 On another occasion when Gwynneth was in the kitchen the housekeeper* who was preparing some grape fruit for breakfast* found that one half had disappeared and could be found neither in the kitchen nor in the scullery. She got two bananas to take its place, and laid them on the table beside her ; immediately the missing grape fruit whizzed past her ear and fell before her and the bananas vanished. Some ten minutes later they were found on the scullery table.

44 All this time Gwynneth was being treated by psychic experts. Every week the girl sat with Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie and others. It was found that she was easily hypnotised, and that tables moved towards her in the circle.

44 At other times during the cure the Poltergeist seemed to accept challenges. One night after a particularly exciting day, Mrs. Barkel magnetised her head and quietened her, and Mrs. McKenzie suggested that she should go to bed, saying 4 Nothing happens when you get into bed. 5 Going up the stairs a small table and a metal vase crashed over, and a little later a great noise of banging and tearing was heard in Gwynneth 5 s room. When Mrs. McKenzie went into the room it looked as if a tornado had swept over it.

44 After an active spell from June 21 to June 25 the spirit behaved itself until July 1* when the girl had a kind of fit. Suddenly she fell off her chair with her hands clenched. They laid her on a bed* and she fell into another fit. She gripped her own throat powerfully.

44 Since that evening she has had no further attacks* nor have there been any disturbances. 55


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 287

The main cause of this apparent cure is said to be the medium ship of Mrs. Barkcl.

“ On many occasions Mrs. Barkcl gave Gwymieth excellent clairvoyance, describing deceased relatives, friends, and incidents in her past life which the girl acknowledged and corroborated.

“ One near relative, says Mr. McKenzie, whose life had been misspent, and who had been a heavy drinker, was clearly seen. The girl feared and hated this personality, in life and beyond death, and had herself often seen him clair- voyantly before the disturbances began at all. Through Mrs. BarkeFs spirit guide, Mr. McKenzie got into touch with him, and lie promised to carry out any instructions that might be given for the benefit of the girl.

“ The request was made that he should withdraw altogether from any contact with her and not return except by request. 4 Professor J., 5 a worker on Lire other side 1 , became interested. Mr. McKenzie asked that a hand of Indians, who sometimes profess to be able to help, should take (Iwynneth in hand and protect her from the assaults of disturbing influences.

“ The following day Mrs. Barkcl described an Indian who had come to help, and improvements were noted from about this date. The ‘professor’ encouraged the treatment by suggestion, and told Mr. McKenzie that in a few -weeks, with the help of the Indian workers, he would place the medium in an entirely new psychic condition. Mr. McKenzie says that the promise was kept.”

I have quoted this case at some length owing to the prominence afforded it in a popular and widely read news¬ paper. That the facts are substantially true I see no reason at all to doubt. It is an ordinary instance of obsession, and will be easily recognized as such by those priests whose duty has required them to study these distressing phenomena. That the interpretation put upon some of l he occurrences is utterly false I am very certain. The clairvoyance is merely playing with fire—I might say, with hell-fire—-by those who cannot understand what they are about, what forces they are thus blindly evoking. “Professor J.” and “the band of Indians,” indeed all these “ workers on the other side ” are nothing else than evil, or at the least gravely suspect intelli¬ gences, masquerading as spirits of light and goodness* If,


238 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


indeed, the girl is relieved from obsession one cannot but suppose some ulterior motive lurks in the background ; it is but part of a scheme organized for purposes of their own by dark and secret powers ever alert to trick and trap credulous man. The girl, Gwynneth Morley, should have been exorcized by a trained and accredited exorcist. These amateurs neither know nor even faintly realize the harm they may do, the dangers they encounter. A bold mind, such as that of Guazzo, might specify their attempts—well- meaning as they are, no doubt—-in terms I do not care to use.

At Illfurt, five miles south of Mulhausen in Alsace, is a monument consisting of a stone column thirty feet high surmounted with a statue of the Immaculate Conception, and upon the plinth of the pillar may be read the following remarkable inscription : In memoriam perpetuam liberationis duorum possessorum Thcobaldi et Josephi Burner , obfentce per intercessionem Bcatce Marie Uhginis Immaculate , Anno Domini 1869.

Joseph Burner 77 and Anna Maria, his wife, were poor but intelligent persons, who were not merely respected but even looked up to for their probity and industry by their fellow- villagers of Illfurt. The family consisted of five children, the eldest son, Thiebaut, being born on 21 August, 1855, and the second, Joseph, on 29 April, 1857. They were quiet lads of average ability, who, when eight years old, were sent in the usual course to the local elementary school. In the autumn of 1864 both were seized with a mysterious illness which would not yield to the ordinary remedies. Dr. Levy, of Altkirch, who was called in to examine the case acknow¬ ledged himself completely baffled, and a number of other doctors who were afterwards consulted declared themselves unable to diagnose such extraordinary symptoms. From 25 September, 1865, the two boys displayed most abnormal phenomena. Whilst lying on their backs they spun suddenly round like whirling tops with the utmost rapidity. Con¬ vulsions seized them, twisting and distorting every limb with unparalleled mobility, or again their bodies would for hours together become absolutely rigid and motionless so that no joint could be bent, whilst they lay motionless as stocks or stones. Fearful fits of vomiting often concluded these


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 239

attacks. Sometimes they were dumb for days and could only gibber and mow with blazing eyes and slabbering lips, sometimes they were deaf so that even a pistol fired close to their ears had not the slightest effect. 78 Often they became fantastically excited, gesticulating wildly and shouting incessantly. Their voices were, however, not their normal tones nor even those of children at all, but the strong, harsh, hoarse articulation of rough and savage men. For hours together they would blaspheme in the foulest terms, cursing and swearing, and bawling out such hideous obscenities that the neighbours took to flight in sheer terror at the horrible scenes, whilst the distracted parents knew not whence to turn for help or comfort. Not only did the sufferers use the filthy vocabulary of the lowest slums, but they likewise spoke with perfect correctness and answered fluently in different languages, in French, Latin, English, and even in most varied dialects of Spanish and Italian, which could by no possible means have been known to them in their normal state. Nor could they at any time have heard conversation in these languages and subconsciously assimilated it. A famous ease is on record where a servant girl of mean educa¬ tion fell ill and during a delirium began to mutter and babble in a language which was recognized as Syriac. This was considered to be accounted for when it was discovered that formerly she had been in service in a house where there was lodging a theological student, who upon the eve of his examinations used to walk up and down stairs and pace his room saying aloud to himself Syriac roots and vocables, which she thus often overheard and which in this way registered themselves in her brain. But there could not be any such explanation in the ease of Thiebaut and Joseph Burner, since they did not merely reel out disconnected words and phrases in any one or two tongues, but conversed easily and sensibly in a large variety of languages and even in dialects. This has always been considered one of the genuine signs of diabolic possession, as is stated in the third article of De Exdrcizandis Obsessis a Dmmonio : <c 3. In primis, ne facile credat, aliquem a daemonic obsessum esse, sed nota habcat ea signa, quibus obsessus dignoscitur ab iis, qux uel atra bile, uel morbo aliquo laborant. Signa autem obsidentis daemonis sunt; ignota lingua loqui pluribus uerbis, uel


240 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


loquentem intelligere ; distantia et occulta patefacere ; uires super setatis seu conditionis naturam ostendere ; et id genus alia, quae cum plurima concurrunt, maiora sunt indicia. 55 Moreover, both Thiebaut and Joseph Burner repeatedly and in exactest detail described events which were happening at a distance, and upon investigation their accounts were afterwards found to be precisely true in every particular. Their strength was also abnormal, and often in their paroxysms and convulsions it needed the utmost exertions of three powerful men severally to hold these lads who were but nine and seven years old.

It was noticed at the very beginning of these maladies that the patients were thrown into the most violent fits and every symptom of disease and disorder exacerbated by the presence of any sacramental such as holy water, or medals, rosaries, and other objects which had been blessed according to the ritual. They seemed particularly enraged by the blessed Medal of S. Benedict and pictures of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. On one occasion Monsieur Ignace Spies, the Maire of Selestat, a man of exceptional devotion and piety, held before their eyes a Relic of S. Gerard Majella, 79 the Redemptorist thaumaturge, when their shrieks and yells were truly terrific, finally dying away in inhuman whines and groans of despair. It so happened that a Corpus Christi pro¬ cession passed the house, opposite which an Altar of Repose had been erected. The children, who were in bed, knew nothing of this and seemed to lie in a deep stupor. However, as the Blessed Sacrament approached their behaviour is said to have been indescribable. They poured forth torrents of filth and profanity, distorting their limbs into a thousand unnatural postures, their eyes almost starting from their heads, a crisis which was succeeded by a sudden horrible composure, whilst they crept away into the furthest corners of the room moaning, panting, and retching as if in mortal agony. Above all, pictures and Medals of Our Lady and the invocation of Her Most Holy Name filled the possessed with terror and rage. At any mention of “ the Great Lady, 55 as they termed Her, they would curse and howl in so monstrous a way that all who had heard them shook and sweated with fear.

The abb6 Charles Brey, parish priest of Illfurt, quickly


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 241

made tip Ms mind as to the diabolic nature of the phenomena. It was an undoubted case of possession, since in no other way could what was taking place be explained* Accordingly he sent to his diocesan, Monsignor Andreas Rass (1842-87) a full account of such extraordinary and fearful events. The Bishop, however, was far from satisfied that these things could not be accounted for naturally. In fact it was only after three or four years 5 delay that at the instance of the Dean of Altkirch he decided to order a special ecclesiastical investigation. He finally appointed for this task three acute theologians, Monsignor Sturnpf, 80 Superior of his Grand Seminary at Strasburg; Monsignor Freyburgcr, Vicar-General of the diocese ; and Monsieur Sester, rector of Mulhausen. These priests, then, presented themselves unexpectedly at the Burner’s house on Tuesday morning, 18 April, 1869, at 10 o’clock. It was found that Joseph Burner had already concealed himself, and it was only after a prolonged search he could with difficulty be dragged from under his bed where he had taken refuge. Thiebaut feigned to be unconscious of the presence of strangers. The inquiry lasted for more than two hours, and it was not until past noon that the investigators left the house. Meanwhile they had witnessed the most hideous scenes, and their minds were quite made up as to the reality of the possession. They shortly presented their report to the Bishop, who then, and not until then, allowed himself to be convinced of the facts.

Even so, the prudent prelate ordered fresh precautions to be taken. At the beginning of September, 1869, Thiebaut was conveyed in the company of his unhappy mother, to the orphanage of S. Charles at Schiltigheim, where he was to be lodged whilst the case was investigated de nouo by Monsignor Rapp, Monsignor Stumpf, and Father Eichor, S.J., Superior of the Jesuit house at Strasburg. At the same time Father Hausser, the chaplain of S. Charles, and Father Schranbzcr, a well-known scholar and psychologist, were to keep the boy systematically but secretly under the closest observation.

It was decided to proceed to exorcism, and a priest of great reverence and experience, Father Souquat, was commissioned by the Bishop to perform the solemn rite. At two o’clock on Sunday, 8 October, Thx6baut was forcibly brought into the chapel of S. Charles, which hitherto he had always

R


242 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

sedulously avoided, and when compelled to enter he uttered without intermission such hoarse yells that it -was necessary to remove him for fear of scandal and alarming the other inmates. The lad, however, was now held fast by the abbes Schrantzer and Hausser, assisted by Charles Andre, the gardener of the establishment, a stalwart and muscular Hercules. The sufferer stood upon a carpet spread just before the communion rails, his face turned towards the tabernacle. He struggled and writhed in the grasp of those who were restraining him ; his face was scarlet; his eyes closed ; whilst from his swollen and champing lips there flowed down a stream of thick yellowish froth which fell in great viscous gouts to the floor. The Litanies began, and at the words cc Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis 55 a hideous yell burst from his throat. The exorcizer unmoved continued the prayers and gospels of the Ritual. Meanwhile the possessed blasphemed and defied their utmost efforts. It was resolved to recommence upon the following day. Thiebaut, accord¬ ingly, was confined in a strait jacket and strapped down m a red arm-chair, around which stood the three guards as before. The evil spirit roared and howled in a deep bass voice/raising a terrific din; the boy’s limbs strained and contorted but the bonds held tight; his face was livid ; his mouth flecked with the foam of slobbering saliva. In a firm voice the priest adjured the demon ; he held the crucifix before his eyes, and finally a statue of Our Lady with the words : “ Unclean spirit, disappear before the face of the Immaculate Conception ! She commands ! Thou must obey ! Thou must depart! ” The assistants upon their knees fervently recited the Mentor are, when the air was rent by a yell of hideous agony, the boy’s limbs were convulsed in one sharp convulsion, and suddenly he lay still wrapped in a deep slumber. At the end of about an hour he awoke gently and gazed about him with wondering eyes. “ Where am I ? ” he asked. <c Do you not know me ? ” questioned the abb<£ Schrantzer. £C No, father, I do not,” was the reply. In a few days Thiebaut was able to return home, worn and weak but bright and happy. Of all that happened during those fateful years he had not the smallest recollection. He returned to school, and was in every respect a normal healthy boy.


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 243

Joseph, who had grown steadily worse, was meantime secluded from his brother, pending the preparations for his exorcism. On 27 October he was taken very early in the morning to the cemetery chapel near Illfurt. Only the parents, Mons. Ignace Spies, Professor Lachemann, and some half a dozen more witnesses were present, as the affair was conducted in the utmost privacy. At six o’clock the abbe Charles Brey said Mass, after which he exorcized the unhappy victim. During three successive hours they renewed prayers and adjurations, until at last some present began to feel discouraged. But the glowing faith of the priest sustained them, and at length with a loud groan that sounded like a deep roar the boy, who had been struggling and screeching in paroxysms of frantic fury all the while, fell back into a deep swoon and lay motionless. After no long pause he sat up, opened his eyes as awaking from sleep, and was over¬ come with amazement to find himself in a church with strange people around him.

Neither Thiebaut nor Joseph ever experienced any recur¬ rence of this strange malady. The former died when he was only sixteen years old on 3 April, 1871. The latter, who obtained a situation at Zillisheim, died there in 1882 at the age of twenty-five.

An even more recent case of possession, which has been authoritatively studied in minutest detail and at first hand, presents many of the same features, 81 Helene-Josephine Poirier, the daughter of an artisan family—her father was a mason—was born on 5 November, 1881, at Coullons, a small village some ten miles from Gien in the district of the Loire. Whilst still young she was apprenticed to Mile Justine Beston, a working dressmaker, and soon became skilful with her needle and a remarkable embroideress. Already she had attracted attention by her sincere and modest piety, and was thought highly of by the parish priest., M. Fresher, a man of unusual discernment and the soundest common sense. On the night of 25 March, 1850, she was suddenly awakened by a series of sharp raps, which soon became violent blows, as if struck upon the walls of the small attic where she slept. In terror she rushed into her parents’ room next door, and they returned with her to search. Nothing at all^ could be discovered, and she was persuaded to go


244 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


back to bed. Although they could actually see no cause for alarm her parents had heard the extraordinary noises. 44 From this date,” says M. Preslier, 44 the life of Helene in the midst of such terrible physical and moral suffering that she might well have given utterance to the complaints of holy Job.” 8 *

These manifestations to Helfene Poirier may not unfittingly be compared with the famous 44 Rochester knockings, 55 the phenomenon of the rappings at Hydesville in 1848 at the house of the Fox family, which by many writers is considered to be the beginning of that world-wide movement known as Spiritism or Spiritualism in its modern manifestations and recrudescence. 83

Some months after this event Helene suddenly fell rigid to the ground as if she had been thrown down by some strong hands. She was able to get up immediately but only to fall again. It was thought she was epileptic or at any rate seized with some unusual attack, some fit or convulsion. But after a careful observation of her case Dr. Azema, the local practitioner, shrewdly remarked : 44 Nobody here but the Priest can cure you. 55 From this time disorders of spirit and physical maladies increased with unprecedented rapidity and violence. 46 Her physical and mental sufferings, which began on 25 March, 1850, continued until her death on 8 January, 1914, that is to say during a period of sixty-four years. But those of diabolic origin ceased towards the end of 1897. So the diabolic attacks actually lasted for some seven-and-forty years, and for six years of this time she was possessed. 55 84 It was in January, 1868, it first became undeniably evident that her sufferings, her spasms, and painful trances had a supernatural origin. The abbe Bougaud, Archdeacon of Orleans, having interviewed her, advised that she should be brought to the Bishop, Monsignor Dupanloup, and made arrangements for her to stay at a Visitation convent in the suburbs, promising that a commission of theologians and doctors should examine her case. On Thursday, 28 October, 1865, PMene accordingly commenced a retreat at the convent, where she was kindly received. M. Bougaud saw her for about two minutes, and she was handed an official order which would allow her access to the Bishop without waiting for a summons from his lordship or any


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 245

other undue delay. But there was some misunderstanding, for on the Friday a doctor of high repute called at the convent, as he had been requested, interrogated and examined her for some three-quarters of an hour and then roundly informed the Mother Superior that she was mad, stark mad, and had better be sent home at once. He seems to have impressed the Bishop with his report, for Monsignor Dupanloup sent a messenger to direct the nuns to dismiss her forthwith, and accordingly she was perforce taken back to Coullons after a fruitless journey of bitter disappointments and discourage¬ ment. Many persons now began to regard her with suspicion, but in the following year, 1866, the Bishop, whilst visiting Coullons for an April confirmation, granted her an interview which caused him very considerably to modify his first opinion, and M. Bougaud, who saw her in September, declared himself convinced of the supernatural origin of the symptoms she displayed.

The most terrible obsessions now attacked her, and more than once she was driven to the verge of suicide and despair. “From 25 March, 1850, until March, 1868, Helene was only obsessed. This obsession lasted 18 years . At the end of this time she was both obsessed mid possessed for 13 months. From this double agony of obsession and possession she was completely delivered by the exorcisms, which the Bishop had sanctioned, at Orleans, on 19 April, 1869. Four months 5 peace followed, until with heroic generosity she voluntarily submitted to new inflictions.

“At the end of August, 1869, she accepted from the hands of Our Lord the agony of a new obsession and possession in order to obtain the conversion of the famous general Ducrot. When he was converted, she was delivered from her torments at Lourdes on 3 September, 1875, the cure being effected by the prayers of 15,000 pilgrims who had assembled there. The obsession and possession in their new form had lasted five years. During the forty years which passed before her death, she was never again subject to possession, but she was continually obsessed, the attacks now being of short duration, now long and severe. The sufferings of every kind which she endured as well she offered witii the intention of the triumph and good estate of God’s priests. Why she was originally thus persecuted by the Devil for nineteen years, and with


246 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

what intention she offered those torments from which she was delivered by the exorcisms directed by the Bishop, must always remain a secret. 55 85 On Tuesday, 18 August, 1867, a supernormal impulse came over her to write a paper full of the most hideous blasphemies against Our Lord and His Blessed Mother, and, what is indeed significant, to draw blood from her arm and to sign therewith a deed giving herself over body and soul to Satan. This she happily resisted after a terrible struggle. Upon the following 28 August reliable witnesses saw her levitated from the ground on two distinct occasions. With this phenomenon we may compare the levitation of mediums at spiritistic seances. Sir William Crookes in The Quarterly Journal of Science , January, 1874, states that u There are at least a hundred recorded instances of Mr. Home’s rising from the ground.” Of the same medium he writes : c£ On three separate occasions have seen him raised completely from the floor of the room.”

In March, 1868, it became evident that the poor sufferer was actually possessed. Fierce convulsive fits seized her ; she suddenly fell with a maniacal fury and a deep hoarse voice uttered the most astounding blasphemies ; if the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary were spoken in her presence she gnashed her teeth and literally foamed at the mouth ; she was unable to hear the words Et caro Uerbum factum est without an access of insane rage which spent itself in wild gestures and an incoherent howling. She was interrogated in Latin, and answered the questions volubly and easily in the same tongue. The case attracted considerable attention, and was reported by the Comte de Maumigny to Padre Picivillo, the editor of the Civiltd Cattolica, who gave an account thereof to the Holy Father. The saintly Pius IX 86 showed himself full of sympathy, and even sent through the Comte de Maumigny a message of most salutary advice recommending great caution and the avoidance of all kinds of curiosity or advertisement.

In February, 1869, when interrogated by several priests Helene gave most extraordinary details concerning bands of Satanists. “ In order to gain admission it is necessary to bring one or more consecrated Hosts, and to deliver these to the Devil, who in a materialized form visibly presides over the assembly. The neophyte is obliged to profane the Sacred


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 247

Species in a most horrible manner, to worship the Devil with humblest adoration, and to perform with him and the other persons present the most bestial acts of unbridled obscenity, the foulest copulations. Three towns, Paris, Rome, and Tours, are the headquarters of the Satanic bands. 5587 She also spoke of a gang of devil-worshippers at Toulouse. It is obvious that a mere peasant woman could ha\ e no natural knowledge of these abominations, the details concerning which were unhappily only too true.

In the following April Helene was taken to Orleans to be examined and solemnly exorcized. The interrogatories were conducted by Monsieur Desbrosses, a consultor in theology for the diocese, Monsieur Bougaud, and Monsieur Mallet, Superior of the Grand Seminary. They witnessed the most terrible crisis ; the sufferer was tortured by fierce cramps and spasms ; she howled like a wild beast; but they persisted patiently. Mons. Mallet questioned her on difficult and obscure points in theology and philosophy using now Latin, now Greek. She replied fluently in both tongues, answering his queries concisely, clearly, and to the point, incontestable proof that she was influenced by some supernormal power. Two or three days later the Bishop was present at a similar examination, and forthwith commissioned his own director, Monsieur Roy, a professor at the Seminary, to undertake the exorcisms. With him were associated Monsieur Mallet, the parish priest of Coullons, and Monsieur Gaduel, Vicar-General of the diocese. Two nuns and Mile Preslier held the patient. It was found necessary to repeat the rite five times upon successive days. On the last occasion the cries of the unhappy Helene were fearful to hear. She writhed and foamed in paroxysms of rage ; she blasphemed and cursed God, calling loudly upon the fiends of hell ; she broke free from all restraint, hurling chairs and furniture in every direction with the strength of five men ; it was with the utmost difficulty she could be seized and restrained before some serious mischief was done; at last with an unearthly yell, twice repeated, her limbs relaxed, and after a short period of insensibility she seemed to awake, calm and composed, as if from a restful slumber. The possession had lasted thirteen months from March, 1868, to April, 1869.

Into the details of her second possession from 28 August,


248 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

1869, until 3 September, 1874, it is hardly necessary to enter at any length. Monsieur Preslier noted : “ The second crisis of possession was infinitely more terrible than the first; 1st, owing to the length ; the first lasted thirteen months, the second five years. 2nd, the first was relieved was a number of heavenly consolations, but very little solace was obtained during the second. 8rd, there was much bodily suffer¬ ing in the first, in the second there were far keener mental sufferings and more exquisite pain.” 88 She was finally and completely delivered at Lourdes on Thursday, 8 September, 1874. It is not to be supposed that she passed the remaining forty years of her life without occasional manifestations of extraordinary phenomena. After much sickness, cheerfully and smilingly borne, she made a good end in her eightieth year, on 8 January, 1914, and is buried in the little village cemetery of her native place.

We have here the case of a woman who was mediumistic and clairvoyant to an almost unexampled degree, and it is very certain that if these would-be fortune-tellers and mages who so freely advertise their powers in many spiritistic journals to-day truly realized to what terrible dangers and very real psychic perils the use and even the mere possession of such faculties expose them, they would, so far from trafficking in the presumption of abnormal gifts, regard them with caution and indeed shrink from any occult practice at all, lest haply they become the prey of controls and influences so cunning, so potent for evil, as to merge them body and soul in untold miseries and shadows darker even than the bitterness of death.

The modern Spiritistic movement, so strongly supported by recent scientific utterances, is increasingly affecting all classes and conditions of society, and is beginning in every direction to undermine and actually to usurp the religious belief and convictions of thousands of earnest and seriously inclined but not very accurately informed or well-instructed persons. The basis of the movement is the claim that the spirits of the dead are continually seeking fco communicate and, indeed, communicating with us through the agency of sensitives, so that it is possible to get into touch and to converse with our dear ones who have passed from this life. It is hardly necessary to emphasize the almost infinite


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 249

consolation and comfort such a doctrine holds for the bereaved, how eagerly and with what yearning mourners will embrace such teaching, and how perseveringly and with what tender agonies of an hungered love they will devote themselves to the practices they imagine will place them in closest con¬ nexion and communion with those whom they have lost awhile, but whose voices they ever long to hear, whose faces they long to see once again. It is a matter of common knowledge that during and since the Great War Spiritism has increased tenfold ; many who were wont to laugh at it, who refused to listen to its claims and scorned it as futile nonsense, are now among its most enthusiastic devotees. In truth there must be few of us who cannot appreciate the irresistible influence such beliefs will have upon the mind. Spiritism is seemingly full of joy, and hope, and promise, and happiness. It will wipe all tears of sorrow from poor human eyes ; it is balm to the wounded heart; divine solace and sympathy ; the barriers of death are broken down; mortality is robbed of its terrors.

Were it true, could we summon to our side the spirits of those whom we have so fondly cherished and converse with them of things holy and eternal, could wc learn wisdom from their fuller knowledge, could wc be assured in their own sweet accents of their fadeless love, could we now and again be comforted with a sight of their well-known faces, the touch of their hands upon ours, were it God’s will that this should be so, then assuredly Spiritism is a most blessed and sacred thing, consolation to the afflicted, succour to the distressed, a shining light upon earth’s dark ways, a very ready help to us all. But if on the other hand there is reason and grave reason to suppose that the spirits, with whom it is possible under certain exceptional conditions and by certain remark¬ able devices to establish a contact, although often claiming to be departed friends or relatives and supporting their contention (we acknowledge) with no little plausibility, are again and again found to be masquerading intelligences, in some eases undoubtedly actors of excellence who play their part for a time with consummate skill, but who have never at any seance whatsoever anywhere been able conclusively to demonstrate their identity, if in fact these manifesting intelligences are deceivers, imposing for purposes of their own


250 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


a fraudulent impersonation upon those who with breaking hearts are so eagerly longing to communicate with son or husband fallen in battle, it may be, or on some lone shore, if they are proven liars, if their messages are trivial, ambiguous, cryptic, incapable of verification, shifty, ignorant, nay worse, blasphemous and hideously obscene, then are we justified— and we are in point of fact fully and completely justified— in concluding that the spirits are not those of the departed, but evil intelligences who never have been and never will be incarnate, unclean spirits, demons, and then assuredly Spiritism is most foul, most loathly, most dangerous, and most damnable.

The mediums, who of their own will freely open the door to these spirits, who invite them to enter, stand in the most deadly peril. A Spiritist of many years 9 experience who saw not too late the hazard and abandoned that creed, writes as follows : <c Spirit communion soon absorbs all the time, faculties, hopes, fears, and desires of its devotees, and herein lies one of the greatest dangers of spiritualism. Infatuated by communication with the unseen inhabitants of the hidden world, the medium loses his or her interest in the things pertaining to everyday life and interest. A soft and pleasing atmosphere appears to surround them. The realities of flesh and blood are lost in ideal dreaming and there is no incentive to break away from a state of existence so agreeable, no matter how monstrous are the delusions practised by the spirits. Their consciences are so callous as if seared with a hot iron, sin has to them lost its wickedness, and they are willing dupes to unseen beings who delight to control their every faculty. Very seldom has a full-fledged spiritualist been able to comprehend the necessity and blessedness of the religion of Jesus Christ, and to withdraw from the morbid conditions into which he has fallen. . * .

“For about three months I was in the power of spirits, having a dual existence, and greatly tormented by their contradictory and unsatisfactory operations. . . . They tor¬ mented me to a very severe extent, and I desired to be freed from them. I lost much of my confidence in them, and their blasphemy and uncleanness shocked me. But they were my constant companions. I could not get rid of them. They tempted me to suicide and murder, and to other sins. I was







DIABOLIC POSSESSION 251

fearfully beset and bewildered and deluded. There was no human help for me. They led me into some extravagances of action, and to believe, in a measure, a few of their delusions, often combining religion and devilry in a most surprising manner .” 89

In my own experience, I myself, not once, but over and over again, have seen all these symptoms unmistakably marked in those whose sole interest and aim in life seemed to be a constant attendance at seances. I have watched, in spite of every effort unable to cheek and dissuade, the fear¬ fully rapid development of such characteristics in persons who have begun to dabble with Spiritism, at first no doubt in moods of levity and wanton curiosity, but soon with hectic anxiety and the most morbid absorption. Some fifteen years ago in a well-known English provincial town a circle was formed by a number of friends to experiment with table-turning, psychometry, the pkmchette, ouija-boards, crystal-gazing, and the like. They were, perhaps, a little tired of the usual round of social engagements, dances, concerts, bridge, the theatre, dinner parties, and all those mildly pleasurable businesses which go to make up life, or at least a great port ion of life, for so many. They wanted some new excitement, something a little out of the ordinary. A lady, just returned home from a prolonged visit to London, had (it seems) been taken to some Spiritistic meeting, and she was full of the wonders both witnessed and heard there. The sense of the eerie, the unknown, lent a spiec of adventure too. The earlier meetings were informal, first at one house, now at another. They began by being infrequent, almost casual, at fairly long intervals. Next a certain evening each week was fixed for these gatherings, which soon were fully attended by all concerned. No member would willingly miss a single reunion. Before long they met twice, three times, every evening in the week. Professional mediums were engaged who travelled down from London and other great cities, some at no small distance, to give strange exhibitions of their powers. I myself met two of these experts, a man and a woman, both of whose names I have since seen adver¬ tised in Spiritistic journals of a very recent date, and I am bound to say that I was most unfavourably impressed in each instance. Not that I for a moment think they were fraudu-


252 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

lent, nor do I suspect any vulgar trickery or pose ; they were undoubtedly honest, thoroughly convinced and sincere, which makes the matter ten times worse. And so from being mere idle triflers at a new game, incredulous and a little mocking, the whole company became besotted by their practices, fanatics whose thoughts were always and ever centred and concentrated upon their communion with spirits, who talked of nothing else, who seemed only to live for those evenings when they might meet and enter—as it were—another world. Argument, pleading, reproof, authority, official admonish- ment, all proved useless ; one could only stand by and see the terrible thing doing its deadly work. The symptoms were exactly as above described. In two cases, men, the moral fibre was for a while apparently destroyed altogether ; in another case, a woman, there was obsession, and persons who either knew nothing of, or had no sort of belief in, Spiritism, whispered of eccentricities, of outbursts of uncontrolled passion and ravings, which pointed to a disordered mind, to an asylum. All sank into a state of apathy ; former interests vanished ; the amenities of social intercourse were neglected and forgotten ; old friendships allowed to drop for no reason whatsoever; a complete change of character for the worse, a terrible deterioration took place; the physical health suffered ; their faces became white and drawn, the eyes dull and glazed, save when Spiritism was discussed, and then they lit with hot unholy fires ; one heard covert gossip that hinted of crude debauch, of blasphemous speeches, of licence and degradation. Fortunately by a series of providential events the circle was broken up ; outside circumstances compelled the principals to fall away, and what was doubtless a more potent factor than any, one or two were suddenly brought to realize the deadly peril and the folly of their proceedings. It proved a hard struggle indeed to rid themselves of the controls to which they had so blindly and so utterly submitted ; their wills were weakened, their health impaired ; more than once they slid back again into the old danger zone, more than once they were on the verge of giving up the contest in despair. But under direction and availing themselves of those means of grace the Church so bounteously proffers they persevered^ and were at length made clean.


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 253

There must be many who have had similar experiences, who know intimately, even if they have not actually had to rescue and to guide, those who have been meshed and trapped by Spiritism and are endeavouring to escape. They will appreciate how difficult Is the task, they will realize how pernicious, how potent, how evil, such toils may be. Nobody who has had to deal with sensitives, with poor dupes who are eager to abandon their practices, can think lightly of Spiritism.

That Spiritism opens the door to demoniac possession, so often classed as lunacy, is generally acknowledged by all save the prejudiced and superstitious. As far back as 1877 Dr. L. S. Forbes Winslow wrote in Spiritualistic Madness; 46 Ten thousand unfortunate people arc at the present time confined in lunatic asylums on account of having tampered with the supernatural. 55 And quoting an American journal he goes on to say : cc Not a week passes in which we do not hear that some of these unfortunates destroy themselves by suicide, or are removed to a lunatic asylum. The mediums often manifest signs of an abnormal condition of their mental faculties, and among certain of them arc found unequivocal indications of a true demoniacal possession. The evil spreads rapidly, and it will produce in a few years frightful results. . . . Two French authors of spiritualistic works, who wrote Le Monde Spirituel and Sauvons le genre humain , died insane in an asylum; these two men were distinguished in their respective professions ; one as a highly scientific man, the other as an advocate well learned in the Law. These individuals placed themselves in communication with spirits by means of tables. I could quote many such instances where men of the highest ability have, so to speak, neglected all and followed the doctrines of Spiritualism only to end their days in the lunatic asylum. 55

Some half a dozen years ago an inquiry was undertaken and there was circulated an interrogatory or enqueie which invited opinions upon (1) cc the situation as regards the renewed interest in psychic phenomena 55 ; (2) whether this 46 psychic renewal 55 denoted a 6C passing from a logical and scientific (deductive) to a spiritual and mystic (inductive) conception of life, 55 or 64 a reconciliation between the two, that is between science and faith 55 ; 90 (3) 44 the most powerful


254 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


argument for, or against, human survival ” ; (4) 44 the best means of organizing this (psychic) movement in the highest interest, philosophical, religious and scientific, of the nation, especially as a factor of durable peace.’ 5 Five-and-fifty of the answers were collected and published under the title Spiritualism: Its Present-Day Meaning , 91 a book which certainly makes most interesting and illuminating if extremely varied reading. Being a symposium, all schools of thought are represented, and I would venture to add that among the contributions are some outpourings which evince no thought at all, a fact which is of itself not without considerable significance. Wc have the unflinching logic and sound common-sense of Father Bernard Vaughan, whose verdict is reiterated by the Rev. James Adderley and the Rev. J. A. V. Magee ; the concise, outspoken, pertinent and telling com¬ ments of General Booth ; the vague hopelessly inadequate flotsam of Dr. Percy Dcarmer, 92 vapid stuff which intakes a theologian writhe ; the sweet sugary sentimentalism of Miss Evelyn Underhill, so anaemic, so obviously popular, and so ingenuously miscalled mysticism ; the dull worthless dross of Mr. McCabe’s superstitious materialism; the feverish panicky special pleading of the convinced Spiritists. Here, too, we have much that directly bears out our present contention, the medical evidence of such names as Sir Bryan Donkin ; Dr. W. II. Stoddart, who treats of 44 The Danger to Mental Sanity ” ; with Dr. Bernard Hollander on 44 The Peril of Spirits ” ; and Dr. A. T. Schofield on 44 The Spiritist Epidemic.” Thus Dr. Stoddart writes : 44 In some cases the spiritualistic hallucinations so dominate the whole mental life that the condition amounts to insanity ; and I can confirm Sir Bryan Donkin’s statement that spiritualistic inquiries tend to induce insanity.” 93 Dr. Hollander is even more emphatic : 44 The practice is a dangerous one. Persons become intoxicated with spirits of that nature as others do with spirits of another kind. And similarly, as not all persons who take alcohol get drunk, so not all spiritualists show the effects of their indulgences. . . . But that is no proof against the harmful nature of these practices, and, as a mental specialist, I confess I have seen victims of both, and that the one addicted to material spirits is the easier to treat.” 94 Spiritism, Dr, Schofield points out, 44 has been known to


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 255

'Christians for 2000 years. Any benefit derived therefrom is more than neutralized by the very doubtful surroundings and character of the supposed revelation (I say 4 supposed 5 because it has been known so long). If, however, it must be coupled with the dangers, horrors, and frauds that so often in modem Spiritism accompany the knowledge of the unseen, we are almost as well without it, at any rate from such a source. . , . There can be no doubt the epidemic will eventually subside, but before it does, the vast mischief of a spiritual tidal wave of very doubtful origin will be most disastrously done, and thousands of unstable souls will be wrecked in spirit, if not in mind and body as well. ... To class it as a religion is an insult to the faith of Christ. 55 95

Sir William Barrett utters a word of grave import : 44 All excitable and unbalanced minds need to be warned away from a subject that may cause, and m many eases has caused, serious mental derangement. 5 5 96 44 Spiritualism, 55 says Father Bernard Vaughan, 44 only too often means loss of health, loss of morals and loss of faith. Consult not Sir Oliver Lodge or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Mr. Vale Owen, but your family medical adviser, and he will tell you to keep away from the seance-room as you would from an opium den. In fact, the drug habit is not more fatal than the practice of Spiritualism in very many cases. Read the warning note sounded by Dr. Charles Mcrcier, or by Dr. G. H. Robertson or by Colonel R. II. Elliot, and be satisfied that yielding to Spiritualism is qualifying for an asylum. You may not get there but you deserve to be an inmate. 5597 The following letter written by Miss Mary G. Cardwell, M.B., Ch.B., from the Oldham Union Infirmary, speaks for itself: 44 One day recently I admitted a woman of thirty-five years to the hospital of which I have the honour to be resident medical officer. She was sent in as incapable of looking after herself or her family. She told me that she was a medium, having been introduced into Spiritualism by a man, also a medium, who said he could thereby help her over some family worries. As a direct result of this, she has neglected her children, so that the public authorities have removed them from her care, her home is ruined, and she herself is a mental and moral wreck. She had paid the other medium for his services by the sacrifice of her virtue. 5508 And this is no isolated, no


256 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

exceptional, instance. I have myself known precisely similar cases.

Occasionally some particularly shocking incident will find its way into the public Press and we have records such as the following, which was headed “ Family of Eleven Mad. Burning Mania after Seance. Child to be Sacrificed.

<c The story of an entire family of eleven persons, in the village of Krucktenhofen, Bavaria, going out of their minds after a spiritualistic stance is sent by the Exchange Paris correspondent, quoting the Berliner Tageblatt .

<£ Renouncing the goods of this world, the father, mother, three sons, two elder daughters, and subsequently the remain- ing four younger members of the family, joined in burning their furniture and bedding.

ct Finally, the three-months-old child of one of the daughters was about to be burnt when neighbours interfered. The whole family is now in an asylum. 55 (Daily Mirror , 19 May, 1921.)

ct Camouflage it as you will, Spiritualism with its kindred superstitions, such as necromancy and occultism, is a recrudescence of the old, old practices cultivated in the days of long ago. 55 " In other words this “ New Religion 55 is but the Old Witchcraft. There is, I venture to assert, not a single phenomenon of modem Spiritism which cannot be paralleled in the records of the witch trials and examinations ; not a single doctrine which was not believed and propagated by the damnable Gnostic heresies of long ago.

Some of the definitions of Spiritism given by spiritists themselves are sufficiently startling. They frankly tell us that u Spiritualism is the science or art of communion with spirits. ... It does not follow that because a communication comes from c the unseen, 5 it is therefore from God, as a revelation. It may be from the latest dead lounger, as an amusement, 55100 or, I would add, from a demon as a snare. There is something inexpressibly ugly and revolting about this cold-blooded necromancy defined in set categorical terms.

Modem Spiritism is usually considered to have had its origin in America. In the year 1848 there lived at Hydes- ville, Wayne, New York State, a family of the Methodist persuasion named Fox ; a father, mother, and two daughters,


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


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Margaretta and Katie, aged fifteen and twelve respectively. During the month of March all the household began to declare that they were kept awake at night by the most extraordinary noises, loud knockings on the wall, and foot¬ steps. The children amused themselves by trying to imitate the noises ; they tapped on the wainscot, and to their great surprise answering taps came back, so that they found they could get into communication with the unknown agency. They would ask a question and invite it to respond with one sharp rap for “ no 55 and three for “ yes/ 5 and thus it continually replied. They further held actual conversations in this way by repeating the alphabet and establishing a regular code. Mrs. Fox then began to make inquiries concern¬ ing the former occupants of the house, and soon discovered that a pedlar named Charles JEtayn was said to have been murdered in the very bedroom where her two girls were sleeping, and that his body had been buried in the cellar. Public curiosity was aroused, and it was now generally believed that it was the spirit of the unfortunate victim who haunted the farm-house, endeavouring to convey some message to those whom he had left. Actually no body was found in the cellar, and the alleged murderer whose name was given, appeared at Hydesvjille and “ threw very hot water on the story. 55 Later when the family moved to Rochester—it is said they were practically driven out of Hydesville by the Methodist minister there—the rappings followed them, and the whole town was speedily on the tiptoe of excitement. It was then given out that the noises were communications from the spirits of those recently dead, and that the Fox girls, who apparently attracted them, were gifted with some special faculty which rendered intercourse of this kind possible. People soon began to flock round them asking their assistance in getting messages .from their departed relatives and friends ; the two girls held regular seances, and netted a fair sum of money. It was not long before other persons discovered that they also possessed this extraordinary faculty of attracting spirit manifestations, and of getting into communication with the other world at will. But the Fox sisters were first in the field, and to them came a continuous stream of persons with well-filled pockets from all parts of America. There was also opposition, which sometimes took a very violent form. As early as November, s


258 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

1850, an attack was made upon Margaretta Fox, who was staying at West Troy in the house of a Mr. Bouton. A rough mob surrounded the premises, stones were thrown at the windows, and shots fired, whilst both men and women uttered threats and imprecations against the “ unholy witch-woman within. 55 At one of the seances Dr. Kane, a famous Arctic explorer was present, and he was so fascinated by the beauty of Margaretta Fox that he never rested until he had taken her away from her sordid and harmful surroundings, had her educated at Philadelphia, and finally, much to the annoyance of his relations, who loathed any connexion with the Fox family, made her his wife.

Dr. Kane died soon after his marriage, but in the book published by his widow there are several references to his abhorrence of Spiritism. tc Do avoid spirits, 55 he urges, “ I cannot bear to think of you as engaged in a course of wickedness and deception. 55 For ten years Mrs. Kane did indeed abandon it; m fact m August, 1858, she was bap¬ tized as a Catholic at New York; but then, 101 owing perhaps to the pinch of poverty, she again took up work as a medium, and was received back with acclamations by the whole Spiritistic community. From that moment dates her steady deterioration, both physical and moral.

Kate Fox, Mrs. Jencken as she had become, the wife of a London barrister, was the mother of a baby whom popular talk credited with mediumistic powers of the most extra¬ ordinary kind. The whole Spiritistic following prophesied a brilliant future for the poor child, of whom, however, there is nothing recorded save that he was sadly neglected by his miserable mother, who died of chronic alcoholism in June, 1892. Mrs. Kane survived her sister for nine months, a pitiable and hopeless wreck, craving only for drink. The last few weeks of her life were spent m a derelict tenement house. “ This wreck of womanhood has been a guest in palaces and courts. The powers of mind now imbecile were the wonder and the study of scientific men in America, Europe, and Australia. . . . The lips that utter little else now than profanity, once promulgated the doctrine of a new religion. 55102 It would, indeed, be difficult to conceive anything more sordid and more miserable than this sad and shocking story of utter degradation. The collapse and moral corruption


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


259


of the first apostles of modern Spiritism should surely prove a timely warning and a danger signal not to be mistaken. 103

In the earliest days of Spiritism the subject was investi¬ gated by men like Horace Greeley, William Lloyd Garrison, Robert Hare, professor of chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, and John Worth Edmonds, a judge of the Supreme Court of New York State. Conspicuous among the spiritists we find Andrew Jackson Davis, whose work The Principles of Nature (1847), dictated by him m trance, contained theories of the universe closely resembling those of the Swedenborgians. From America the movement filtered through to Europe, and when in 1852 two mediums, Mrs. Haydon and Mrs. Roberts, came to London, not merely popular interest but the careful attention of the leading scientists of the day was attracted. Robert Owen, the Socialist, frankly accepted the Spiritistic explanation of the various phenomena, while Professor De Morgan, the mathe¬ matician, in his account of a sitting with Mrs. Haydon declared himself convinced that “ somebody or some spirit was reading his thoughts.” In the spring of 1855 Daniel Dunglas Home (Hume)—Home was the son of the eleventh Lord Home and a chambermaid at the Queen’s Hotel, Southampton, but was brought up in America—who was then a young man of twenty-two, crossed to England from America. In 1856 Home was received into the Church at Rome by Father John Etheridge, S.J., and he then gave a promise to refrain from all exercise of his mediumistic powers, but in less than a year he had broken his pledge and was living as before. This famous medium is almost the only one who, as even Podmore admits, was never clearly con¬ victed of fraud. Sir David Brewster, the scientist, and Dr. J. J. Garth Wilkinson, a scholar of unblemished integrity and one of the leading homoeopathic physicians, both avowed that they were incapable of explaining the phenomena they had witnessed by any natural means. It was in 1855 that the first English periodical dealing exclusively with the subject. The Yorkshire Spiritual Telegraph , was pub¬ lished at Keighley, in Yorkshire. In 1864 the Davenport brothers visited England, and in 1876 Henry Slade. Amongst English mediums the Rev. William Stainton Moses became prominent in 1872, 104 and about the same year Miss Florence


260 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Cook, so well known for the materializations of 64 Katie King/' which were scrupulously investigated by the late Sir William Crookes. In 1878 and in 1874, however, the trickery of two mediums, Mrs. Bassett and Miss Showers, was definitely exposed. 105 In 1876 and 1877 the sensitive 64 Dr/ 5 Monck was at the height of his reputation, and both Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, F.R.S., and the late Archdeacon Colley state that in various seances with him they witnessed on several occasions phenomena, including materialization, under rigid test conditions which admitted of no dispute as to their genuineness. It is true that in 1876 Monck had been in trouble and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment under the Vagrant Act. About the same time William Eglinton, who figures in Florence Marryat's work There is No Death , appeared on the scenes and for a while loomed largely in the public eye. He became famous for his slate-writing per¬ formances as well as his materializations. He was, however, exposed by Archdeacon Colley, who during the discussion which had centred round a medium named Williams, detected in fraudulent practices during stances in Holland, wrote to The Medium and Daybreak to say : 44 It unfortunately fell to me to take muslin and false beard from Eglinton’s port¬ manteau. . . . Some few days before this I had on two several occasions cut pieces from the drapery worn by, and clipped hair from the beard of, the other figure representing Abdullah. I have the pieces so cut off beard and muslin still. But note that when I took these things into my possession I and a medical gentleman (25 years a Spiritualist and well known to the old members of the Movement) found the pieces of muslin cut fit exactly into certain corresponding portions of the drapery thus taken/ 5106

The medium Slade, who was famous for slate-writing, was upon one occasion suddenly seized as he was about to put the slate under the table. His hands were held fast, and when the slate was snatched from him it was seen to be already covered with characters. Anna Rothe, who died in 1901, a medium well known for her apports of flowers, suffered a term of imprisonment in Germany on a charge of 'fraud. When Baily, the Australian sensitive, visited Italy he refused to sit under the strict conditions which were arranged in answer to a challenge of his powers. Charles*


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


261


Eldred of Clowne, an adept at materialization, employed a chair skilfully made with a double seat, and m this recess were discovered the whole paraphernalia he employed in his performances.

Mrs. Williams, an American medium, who for a long while was a centre of spiritistic attention at Paris, used to materi¬ alize a venerable doctor with a flowing beard who was some¬ times accompanied by a young girl dressed in white. At one circle Mons. Paul Leymaric gave a prearranged signal. He and a friend each laid hold of one of the apparitions ; a third spectator seized Mrs. Williams 5 assistant; and a fourth turned on the lights. Mons. Leymaric was seen to be strug¬ gling with the medium, who had donned a grey wig and a long property beard ; the young girl was a mask from which were draped folds of fine white muslin and which she mani¬ pulated with her left hand. Miller, a Californian medium, was more than suspected of producing spirits from gauze and nun’s veiling. 107 From one of the mediums of Mons. de Rochas, Valentine, there emanated mysterious lights, which moved quickly hither and thither during the stances. Colonel de Rochas, when this manifestation was once at its height, suddenly switched on a powerful electric torch and Valentine was seen to have slipped off his socks and to be waving in the air his feet, which were covered with some preparation of phosphorus, 108 As early as June, 1875, a photographer named Buguet was convicted of selling faked photographs of spirits by which he netted a very pretty sum. 109

It is notorious that in Spiritistic stances and circles charlatanry and swindling of every kind are rife ; that again and again mediums have been convicted of fraud ; that not infrequently all kinds of properties, stuffed gloves, gauzes, yards of diaphanous muslin, invisible wires, hooks, beards, wigs, have been discovered ; that the use of luminous paint is very effective and far from uncommon ; that a sliding trap or panel may on occasion prove of inestimable service ; that we must allow for self-deception, delusions, suggestion, hypnotism even; but when all has been said, when we candidly acknowledge the imposture, the adroit legerdemain, the conjurer’s clever tricks, the significant mise cn setne, the verbal wit and quibbling, the deliberate and subtle cozenage contrived by shrewd minds and the full play of dramatic


262 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


instinct and energy, nevertheless there yet remain numbers of instances when it has been repeatedly proven that acute and trained observers have witnessed phenomena which could not by any possibility whatsoever have been fraudu¬ lently produced ; that clear-headed, cold-hearted, suspicious, hard men of science with every sense keenly alert at that very moment have conversed with, inspected, nay, actually handled, materialized forms and figures no personation could have devised and manifested.

The proceedings against Monek plainly showed that he had at any rate a firm belief in his own psychic powers, and although Eglinton was detected in a trick upon more than one occasion there is irrefutable evidence to prove that in other instances when he assisted at seances any normal mode of production of the phenomena seen there was quite impossible. A large number of Miller’s manifestations also were genuine . 110 The same may be said of very many mediums. This means, in fine, that although the manifesta¬ tions of almost any medium may in some cases have been artificially contrived, such phenomena are not on any account to be adjudged always fraudulent, and even if the charge of imposture could be brought home far more conclusively than has so far been possible as regards the majority of sensitives, yet it were a false inference indeed to deduce there¬ from that all phenomena arc equally fraudulent and devised. It is only the recklessly illogical mind and the loose thinker who will in the face of absolutely conclusive proof of genuine manifestations continue to maintain that a certain quota of quackery can invalidate the whole. Writers of the temper of Messrs. Edward Clodd, Joseph McCabe, J. M. Robertson must, of course, be expected to condemn Spiritism without knowing the facts or weighing the evidence as an obvious absurdity which calls for no serious refutation. But this, I think, matters little. The superstitious dogmatism of the materialist is gravely discredited nowadays. True, the sort of book he produces is widely circulated and very successful within certain limits. We should expect tenth-rate ideas which could only emanate from a lack of understanding, a total want of imagination, and no training in metaphysics or philosophy, to have a direct appeal to the immature intelligences, the un-


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 263

educated vulgar and tlxe blatant yet presumptuous ignor¬ ance, which alone are eager for this kind of outmoded fare.

In France Spiritism was first proclaimed by a pamphlet of Guillard Table qui danse et Table qui rtpond. The way had been long paved owing to the interest which was generally taken in the doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg. Balzac had published in 1835 his esoteric hybrid SerapMta (Se?aphitus), a fanciful yet interesting work, in which there are many pages of theosophic philosophy. Perhaps he meant these seriously, but it is impossible to take them as other than flights of romance. In 1848 Cohognet more immediately heralded Guillard by publishing at Paris the first volume of his Arcanes de la vie future devoilees, which actually contains what purport to be communications from the dead. In 1853 seances were being held at Bourgcs, Strasburg, and Paris, and a regular furore ensued. Nothing was talked of but the wonders of Spiritism, which, however, soon met an opponent, Count Agenor dc Gasparin, a Swiss Protestant, who carefully investigated table-turning with a circle of his friends and came to the conclusion that the phenomena originated in some physical force of the human body. It must be admitted that his Des Tables Tournantcs (Paris, 1854) is unconvincing and to some extent superficial, but more perhaps could hardly be expected from a pioneer in so tortuous an investigation. The Baron de Guldenstubbe, on the contrary, declared his firm belief in the reality of these phenomena and spirit intervention in general. His work La Realitc des Esprits (Paris, 1857) eloquently argued for his convictions, whilst Le Livre des Esprits (Paris, 1853) by M. Bivail or Rival, better known under his pseudonym Allan Kardec, became a world-wide textbook to the whole subject.. In these early days the most distinguished men were wont to meet in the rue des Martyrs at Paris for seances. Ticdmen Marthesc, governor of Java ; the academician Saint-Rene-Taillandier ; Sardou, with his son ; Flammarion; all were constant visitors. The notorious Home was, it is said, expelled from France after a seance at the Tuilerics, during which he had touched the arm of the Empress with his naked foot, pretend¬ ing that it was a caress from the tiny hands of a little child who was about fully to materialize. No one, I think, could


264 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


be surprised to know that the famous Joris Karl Huysmans, an epicure in the byways of the occult, made many experi¬ ments in Spiritism, and seances were frequently held at No. 11 me de Sevres where he lived. Extraordinary mani¬ festations took place, and upon one occasion at least the circle effected a materialization of General Boulanger, or an apparition of the General appeared to them.

At the present time Spiritism is as widely spread in France as in England, if indeed not far more widely. Thus La Science de VAme is a new bi-monthly journal issued under the auspices of La Revue Spirite . It has articles on Magnetism and Radio-activity, the analysis of the soul, and vital radiations. In the number of La Revue Spirite, which commences the year 1925, Mens. Camille Flammarion prints a signed letter from Heliopolis, which describes a first experience of a sdanee, where the death of the writer’s father was predicted in six months and took place ten days after the allotted time. Elsewhere in the issue are particulars of the International Congress of Spiritism which was to be held at Paris in September, 1925, and would be open to all Federa¬ tions, Societies, and Groups everywhere. An immense con¬ course was expected. The President is Mr. George F. Berry, a well-known name in English Spiritistic circles, and the compliment of honorary membership is paid to Ldon Denis, 111 Gabriel Delanne, Sir William Barrett, and Ernest Bozzano.

A glance at the pages of any Spiritistic journal in England will show almost endless activities in every direction. In one issue of the weekly Light (Saturday, 21 February, 1925) we have amongst other announcements nine “ Sunday’s Society Meetings 55 in various districts of London, with addresses on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The following seems sufficiently startling and a close enough imitation ; “ St Luke's Church of the Spiritual Evangel of Jesus the Christ , Queen* s-road, Forest Hill , S.E.— Minister : Rev. J. W. Potter. February 22nd, 6.80, Service, Holy Communion and Address. Healing Service, Wed., Feb. 25th, 7 p.m.” In the next column are details of ct Rev. G. Yale Owen’s Lecture Tour.” The “ London Spiritualist Alliance, Ltd.” has a list of meetings. There are discussion classes and demonstrations of clair¬ voyance, psychometry, and Mystic Pictures* Among u Books that will Help you M we find Talks with the Dead, Report on


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 265

Spiritualism , The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ —(is this used at St. Luke’s Church of the Spiritual Evangel ?)— Spirit Identity , Spiritualism , and many more of similar import. There is a “British College of Psychic Science 55 where Mr. Horace Leaf, a medium of some repute, lectures on “ The Psychology and Practice of Mediumship,” Mrs. Barker demonstrates Trance Mediumship, and Mrs. Travers Smith the Ouija-Board and Automatic Writing. There is a “ London Spiritual Mission 55 and a “ Wimbledon Spiritualist Mission.” At Brighton “ St. John’s Brotherhood Church ” provides “ The Spiritual Evangel of Jesus the Christ,” “ Minister, Brother John.” And all this is scarcely a tithe of the various announcements and advertisements.

However grotesque, and indeed often puerile in its bombast and grandiloquence, such a mass of heterogeneous notices may seem we must remember that these people are in deadly earnest, and I doubt not but their meetings and assemblies are well attended by enthusiastic devotees. In a report of an address by the Rev. G. Yale Owen at the “ Spiritualist Community Services in the County Hall ” on Sunday evening, 15 February, 1925, I read cc all seats were filled long before the advertised hour for starting. The doors were closed and many for a time were denied admission. A little later they were allowed to enter and take up positions along the edges of the dais and other odd places about the hall .” 112 This, of course, was possibly some exceptional occasion, but there is no indication that such was the case. Mr. Vale Owen may be a very eloquent speaker and able to hold his audience spell-bound with the magic of his words* It must assuredly be his manner and not his matter, for his so-called revelations of the life beyond the grave, written under control and presumed to be directly derived from spirit agency, which appeared in The Weekly Dispatch are vapid, inept, idle, and insipid to the last degree. Such banal ramblings would provoke a smile, were it not for the pity that any person can be so self-deluded, and can apparently induce others to give credit to his silliness.

There have been large numbers of mediums in recent years who owing to one cause or another attracted consider¬ able attention from time to time, and there are many well- known contemporary sensitives widely practising to-day.


266 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

Mrs. Yerrall and Mrs. Holland, who were believed to have obtained spirit messages from the late F. W. II. Myers, occupied the serious attention of the Society of Psychical Research 113 for a considerable period; Mrs. Piper is an automatic writer of no little repute; Mr. Yout Peters specializes in psychometry and clairvoyance ; Mr. Yearn- combe and Mrs. Deane have recently enjoyed their full share of notoriety; 114 the Rev. Josie K. Stewart (Mrs. Y.), a lady hailing from the United States, has a gift for the production of 46 writing and drawings on cards held in her hand 5 ’; Mrs. Elizabeth A. Tomson, in spite of being detected of fraud at a Spiritistic 44 Church 55 in Brooklyn, still has™ devoted followers ; Franek Kinski, Stella C., and Ada Besinnet, are in the forefront of American mediums ; whilst the famous Goligher circle at Belfast was carefully and patiently investi¬ gated for no less than three months by Dr. Fournier d’Albe, who has published the result of his experiences. 115 The very cream of these occult manifestations is materialization, the most complex problem of all, which has been described as cc the exercise of the power of using of the matter of the medium’s and the sitters’ bodies in the formation of physical structures on a principle totally unknown to ordinary life, although probably present there.” 116 Recently (1922) Erto, the Italian medium, appears to have been the subject of careful experiments at the French Metaphysical Institute during a period of several months, those who assisted being pledged to silence until a decision had been reached. The particular phenomena produced by or in his presence were chiefly characterized by the radiation of an extraordinary light about his person. At the end of 1922 two papers appeared in La Revue Metapsychique on the part of Dr. Sanguinetti and Dr. William Mackenzie of Genoa indicating their assurance (1) that every scientific precaution had been taken, and (2) that the phenomena were genuine. However, the experiments seem to have continued and later there appeared in Le Matin an enthusiastic contribution by Dr. Stephen Chauvet, which caused Dr. Gustave Gelcy, Director of the Metaphysical Institute, to come forward in confirmation of the testimony. It is only fair to add that im¬ mediately afterwards Dr. Gelcy to a certain extent retracted his statement, as he suggested that the psychic lights could be


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 267

produced with ferro-cerium , and it was thought that traces of this substance could be found on Erto’s clothes. The medium protested his innocence of any deception, and offers himself for further experiments. A writer in Psychica is inclined to believe that the phenomena were genuine, but that later some fraud may have been practised owing to waning power. This is possibly the case, for that the radia¬ tions were at first supernormal cannot, I think, be gainsaid in view of the high testimony adduced. For this phenomenon Mr. Cecil Hush and Mr. Craddock have sat repeatedly ; of the extraordinary manifestations of the late Eusapia Palladino there can be no reasonable doubt at all; the materializations of Mile “ Eva Carrere, 55117 although on several occasions not altogether successful, are at other times supported by the strongest evidence ; Nino Peeoraro, who is described as tc a remarkably muscular young Neapolitan, 55 is famous for cc ecto¬ plasmic effects 55 ; and Stanislava P., Willy S., the Countess Castelvicz, and very many more psychics possess these supernormal powers, although, as we might expect, they have to be used with the utmost caution and often prove very exhausting to the subject. After all, it must be remembered that probably under certain conditions matcrializal ion canned take place, whilst under favourable conditions it can be completely effected. For an exhaustive and authoritative discussion of the whole matter the Baron Von Sehrenek- Notzing’s Phenomena of Materialization (Kegan Paul, 1028), should be consulted. The 225 photographic reproductions are of the utmost importance, whilst the investigations were carried on under conditions of such pitiless severity to eliminate any hypothesis of fraud that the mediums cannot but have been subjected to the intensest physical and moral strain.

Among recent psychic phenomena very general attention has been attracted by what is known as 4t The Oscar Wilde Script, 55 which was widely discussed in 1928-24. Briefly, this purports to be a number of communications which were delivered by the spirit of the late Oscar Wilde at the rate of 1020 words in an hour by means of automatic writing through the mediumship of Mrs. Travers Smith (Mrs. Hester M. Dowden) 118 and a certain Mr. V. True, there were published in The Sunday Express pages which had a super-


268 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

ficial resemblance to the more flashy characteristics of Wilde’s flamboyant style, but it seemed as if the wit and point had vanished, leaving only a somewhat heavy and imitative prose ; one had a sense of damp fireworks, and personally I do not for a moment accept this script as being inspired or dictated by Wilde. I hasten to add that I do not suggest there was any conscious fraud or trickery on the part of those concerned ; it is quite probable that these psychic messages were conveyed by some intelligence of no very high standing, and the result in fine is not of any value. It is said that a three act play is being or has been communicated through the ouija-board from what purports to be Wilde. This I have not read, and therefore I am not in a position to pronounce upon it.

Spiritism is upheld by many distinguished names. Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S., has battled on its behalf, as also have Sir William Barrett, E.R.S., and Sir William Crookes, F.R.S., Professors Charles Richet, Janet, Bernheim, Lombroso, and Flammarion lend it the weight of their authority, whilst Sir Conan Doyle has poured forth his benedictions upon occultism of every kind. 119 He has even presided over the opening of a most attractive bookshop in Victoria Street, Westminster, where Spiritistic publications are sold.

How then are we to regard this mighty movement at which it were folly to sneer, which it is impossible to ignore ? The Catholic Church does neither. But none the less she condemns it utterly and entirely. Not because she dis¬ believes in it, but because she believes in it so thoroughly, because she knows what is the real nature of the moving forces, however skilfully tftey may disguise themselves, however quick and subtle their shifts and turns, the intelli¬ gences which inform and direct the whole. It is a painful subject since (I reiterate) many good people, no doubt many thoughtful seekers after truth, have been fascinated and swept along by Spiritism. They are as yet conscious of neither physical nor moral harm, and, it may be, they have been playing with the fire for years. Nay more, Spiritism has been a sweet solace to many in most poignant hours of bitter sorrow and loss $ wherefore it is hallowed in their eyes by tenderest memories. They are woefully deceived* Hard as it may seem, we must get down to the bed-rock of fact.


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


269


Spiritism has been specifically condemned on no less than four occasions by the Holy Office/ 20 whose decree, 80 March, 1898, utterly forbids all Spiritistic practices although inter¬ course with demons be strictly excluded, and communication sought with good spirits only. Modem Spiritism is merely Witchcraft revived. The Second Plenary Council of Balti¬ more (1866), whilst making ample allowance forprestidigitation and trickery of every kind, warns the faithful against lending any support whatsoever to Spiritism and forbids them to attend seances even out of idle curiosity, for some, at least, of the manifestations must necessarily be ascribed to Satanic intervention since in no other manner can they be understood or explained.

NOTES TO CHAPTER, VI

1 E do Kongo, Jffitude sur une stele Jijgyptienne, Paris, 1858 : E. A W Budge, Egyptian Magic, VII

2 Reich Khet , “ kiiowor of things ”

3 Euripides, Baccluv passim; Ovid, Metamorphoses ITT 513, sqq Apollodorus, III v. 2 ; Hygurus, Fabului, 184; Nomuis, Dionysiaca (Bassa- nca), XIV, 16.

4 Sophocles, Ajax; Pindar, Ncmea, VII, 25; Ovid, Metamorphoses , XIII, 1-398

5 Pausamas, 111, xvi, 6.

6 Valerius Maximus, I, J1, 5. Lacinmm was a promontory on the eafit- coast of Bruttium, a few miles south of Croton, and forming the western boundary of tho Tarentmo gulf. The remains of the temple of I uno Laeinia aro still extant, and have given the modem name to the promontory, Capo delle Colonm or Capo di Nao (rafo).

7 Xenophon, Memorabilia. II. 1. 5 ; Demosthenes, XCIII, 24 ; Dinurehus, Cl, 41 ; Plutarch, Lucvllus , IV.

8 Euripides, Orestes , 1. 854, and 1. 79.

9 Cf fJL&VTLS .

10 Cf. Vergil JUneid. IV 471-3 : <

Agamemnonh 1 s scanus agitato s Orestes armatam facibus matrem ot serpontibus atria cum fugit, ultricesque sedont in limine Dirse

(Or as t-ho Atridan matricide Runs frenzied o’er the scone,

What time with snakes and torches plied He flees tho murdered queen,

Wlnlo at tho threshold of tho gate Tho sister-fiends expectant wait.)

11 Plautus, Amphitruo , II. 2. 145. Mam haec quidom eciepol lau&rum plenast.

12 Quid Osset ilh morhi, dixoras ? Marru, sonex.

Mum laruatim, aut corritus ? fac sciam.

Mencechmci, V. 1, 2. Apulouis has laruans as. a madman ; “ hunc [pul- chorrimamMercum lmagmem] deni quo qui laruam putat, ipse ost laruausd’ (Laruatus is a pooror reading in this passage ) Ocrritm . a rare word, is contracted from ceiebritus (cerebrum), and not connected with Ceres, as was formerly suggested. Cf. Horace, Bermonum , II, iii. 278.


270 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


13 Bibl. Ill, v, 1.

14 471, sqq.

15 56, Natick

lb TCLTnx&pl ttoXgl (ppvyCav rB/nrava,

  • Pdxs re prjrpbs: epd B' eupypara

17 Cn ca 185-135 b c

18 Professor Leuba, The Psychology of Behgions Mysticism Keg an Paul, London, 1925, p 11 sqq has some vory important references to the worship of Dionysus

19 crb 7 ap tpOeos, & hotipa, etr €K llavos dBEicdras fj creppQp KopvftdpTa)p (poiras, t) parpbs opelas

20 56%acra 7rov ■f) llavos dpyas t) rrpbs Be£>v poXeLP.

21 aXX' f) K poviov Ilavclis rpopepq, pdariyi 0o/3a ;

22 Pythagoras prescribes music for mental chsordeis, Eunapuis Vita philosophomm, 67 ; and Calms Auiehanus by his references shows that this was a common remedy m such cases, De JMorhis ChromcAS {Tardurum Passionum) VI Origen, Aducrsus Oelsum, III, x, and Martianus Capolla De Nnptns Philologists et Meicwn IX, 925, have similar allusions

23 1 Kings xvi 14 (A V 1 Samuel xvi 14) • “ Exagitabat eum [SaulJ spiritus nequam a Domino ”

24 Anhquitates lud , VI, \iii, 2 , n, 2.

25 La Mystique Divine, Ribet, II, ix, 4, it is true, speaks of “ Pobsession inierieure,” but he makes the above distinction, and further says : “ L’obses¬ sion purement mt^neure ne differe des tentations ordmaires que par la vdhemence et la durde ”

20 Multie sunt tentationes ©ms, et die noctuque uariaa dmmonum insidise . . . Quoties illi nudse mulieros cubanti, quoties esunonti largissinue appa- ruere dapes ? Uita S. Hilar tonis VII. Migne. vol. XXIII col. 32.

27 Sustmebat miser diabolus uel muliens formam noctu mclueio, femnurque gestus imitan, Antomum ut dociperet S Athanasius, Uita 3. Antonn, V. Migne. vol XXVI. col. 847

28 Feast (duplex maius apucl Mlnores), 22 February.

29 It may perhaps not be amiss to point out that S. Margaret before her conversion was by no means the woman of scandalous life so many biographers have painted her

30 Sectanclo per cellam orantis et flentis, cantauit [diabolus] iurpissimas cantationes, et Christi famulam lacrymantem et se Domino commendantem procaciter muocabat ad cantum . . . ; tentantem procibus et lacrymis repulit ac eiecit. Bollandists, 22 February Vol. VI.

31 Ceterum consilium est semper de talibus muasiombus suspicionem habere, non emm negandum maiorem earum partem esse aut fictiones, aut imagmatxones, aut infirmitates, pi a»sertim in muhenbus. Praxis confes¬ sor i or uni, n 120

32 Siepissime, quse putantur dsemoms obscssiones, non sunt nisi morbi natur&les, aut Naturales lmagmationes, uel etiarn mclioata aut perfecta amentia. Quare caute omnmo procedendum, usquedum per speciahssima signa de obsessione constot. Theologta mystica, I n. 228.

33 Biblisches Pealworterbuch, Leipsig, 1833.

34 This word is found nowhere olse m the New Testament, and wherever it is used in the LXX, it is invariably of the sayings of lying prophets, or those who practised arts forbidden by the Jewish Law Thus of the witch of Endor (1 Kings (1 Samuel) xxvm. 8) pdvrevaai dif) poi ip rip iyya<rrpiopd0(p, and (Ezechiel xui 6) fiXirrovres ^evdy, paprevbpepot pdraia

35 Ordinandi, filii chanssimi, m officmm Exorcistarum, debitis noscere quid suscipitis. Exorcistam etenmi oportot abiicere dscmones; et dicer© populo, ut, qui non communicat, dot locum ; ©t aquam in mimsterio funder©. Accipitis itaque potestatem imponendi manum super ©nergumonos, et per


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 271

impositionem mamium uestrarum, gratia spiritus sancti, ©t ueibis exorcism! pelluntur spintus lmmundi a corponbus obsossis Stndete igitur, ut, sieut a corponbus aliorum dsemones oxpeilitis, ita a mentibus, et corponbus uestns omnem immunditiam, et neqmtaam ©neiatis, ne illis suecumbatis, quos ab alus, uostro mmisterio, ©ffugatis Discit© per officmm uestrum uitns impel are , ne in mon bus uestns aliquul sm xuris xnimicus ualeat umdicare. Tunc etemm recte m alna dsemombus nnperabitis, cum pnus m uobis eorum multimodam neqmtiam superatis. Quod nobis Domrnus agei© concedat per Spmtum suum sanctum

36 Accipite, et common date meinonir, et haboto potest atom imponendi manus super energumenos, feme baptizatos, siu© catechurnenoa.

37 Deum Patrern ommpotentem, fraties chanssnm, supplices doprecamur, ut hos famulos suos bene ^ clicoro dignetur m officium Exorcistarum ; ut suit spintuales imperatores, ad abnciendos daemon es de corponbus obsossis, cum omni nequitia eorum multiformi Per umgemtum F ilium suum D omnium nostrum lesum Christum, qui cum oo uiuit et regnat m uml ate Spintus sancti Deus, per omnia sopcula saeculorum R. Amen.

38 Domine sancte. Pater ommpotens, aeterno Deus, bone dicere dignaie hos famulos tuos in officium Exorcistarum , ut por impositionem manuum, ©t oris officium, potestatem, of. imperium habeant spintus immundos coer- cendi . ut probabiles suit medici Eeelesuc tiuc, gratia cmationum uiituteque coolesti confirmati Per Dommum nostrum lesum Christum Pilium tuum, qm tecum mint, et regnat m uni tat e Spintus sancti Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum R Amen. Post hcec, suggerente Atchtdiacono, vcdewnt ad loca sua.

30 Sulpitius Severus (d. 420-5) m his Dialogue®, Til (II), 6 , (Migne, Pat res Latim, XX, 215) tolls ns that S Mart in of Tours was wont to cast out demons by prayer alone without the imposition of hands or the use of the formula* recom¬ mended to the cleigy Similar instances occur m the h\es of the Saints.

40 Translated from the Rituale Romarmm . There are several forms extant, some authoxizcd, but more, poihaps, unauthorized There is an authorized form m the Greek Euchologion. Tt commences with the Trisagion, and Psalms, Domme eraudi (cxlu ), Domrnus recpt we (xxn ), Dommus dtu- rmnatio mea (xxvi ), Esin gat Deus (Ixvn ), Miserere (Ivi ), Domme ne m furore (vi,), Domme ecaudi orationcm (ci.) Then follows the Consolatory Canon, with a long Hymn addressed to Our Lord, Our Lady, and All Saints. Next the priest anoints the patient, saying a prayer over him, and so the office closes.

41 It is also given in the Horce Viurnce O P., Romo, 1903, whoxe an indul¬ gence of 300 days is attached, plenary once a month.

42 Ab msidns diaboh, libera nos Domine ; Ut Ecelesiam tuam sccura fibi facias libertate sermre, te rogamus, audi nos; Ut mimicos sancfse Eccleshe humiliare dignens, te rogamus, audi nos. Et aspergatur locus aqua benedict a*

43 Holy water, the commonest of the saciamentals, is a mixture of exorcised salt and exorcised water.

44 Of Eastern origin It should bo remembered that the Baptism of Christ in Jordan is commemorated on the Epiphany. In the present Breviary office m Nocturn I the first response for the day, the Octave, and the Sunday within the Octavo deal with the Baptism, as does the second response. The antiphon to the Bonodictus and the Magnificat antiphon at Second Vespers also make mention of the same mystery. In Rome the Latin rite of the Blessing of the Waters is pontificated by a Cardinal at S. Andrea della Valle on 5 January, about 3.30 p m., at the church of the Stimulate of S. Francesco at 9 30 a.m on the Feast itself. On the Vigil the Oriental rite is performed at the Greek church of S Atanasio, beginning about 3.30 a.m.

45 See Wilson, Western Africa; and the article ** 'Possession diabohque ** by Waffelaert m the Dictiormaire apologdkgue de la foi cathohque , Paris, 1889. The opinion of the Cistercian Dom Robert do la Trappe (Dr. Pierre-Jean- Corneille Debroyno), who, whilst acknowledging that the demoniac possessions as detailed in the New Testament are de fide , supposes that all other cases are to be attributed to fraud or disease, must be severely censured as regret¬ tably rash and even culpable. Essai sur la tMologie morale, IV. p. 356.


272 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


46 S Justin Martyr, Apologia , VI; Dialogues , XXX, LXXXV . Mmutius Felix, Octavius t XXVII; Ongen, Contra Celsum, I, 25; VII, 4, 67 : Tertullian, Apologia, XXII, XXIII.

47 Paulmus, Unto 28, 43.

48 S. Gregory of Nyssa, De Uita Bphraem

49 Upon this passage Servatius Galle (1627-1709), a Dutch minister at Haarlem, in his edition of Lactantius, 1660, writes the most absurd note I have ever met with m any commentator

50 Published between 304-313 De JLabriolle, Histone de la Littdratuie Latme Chr&tienne, p 272

51 A very full and scholarly monograph upon this subject may be recom¬ mended : La Realitd des Apparitions Dimomaques, by Dorn Bernard-Marie Mardchaux, Olivotan, OSB, Paris, Tequi, 1899

52 It is true that on one occasion S. Maurus, who was with S. Benedict, beheld an apparition, and S. Benedict once enabled a monk to see a similar vision.

53 One of Sodoma’s exquisite frescoes at Monte Oliveto (Siena) depicts an exorcism by S. Benedict.

54 The letters have boon thus translated by Dom Benedict McLaughlin of Ampleforth :

Holy Cross be thou my light,

Put the evil one to flight.

Behind m© Satan speedily,

Whisper not vain things to m©

You can give but evil, then Keep it for yourself. Amen.

56 All English Benedictine priests hold the special faculty to use this (bestowed 23 February, 1915), and it has also been granted to many others, religious and seculars.

56 Omms virtus aduersarii, omnis exercitus diaboli, et omms mcursus, omnis phantasma Satan®, eradicare et effugare ab his numismatibus . . .

57 Bomme lesu Ohnste . . . per hanc tuam sanctissimam passionem humiliter exoro ; ut omnes diabolicas msidias et fraudes expellas ab eo, qui nomen sanctum tuum, his litteris ac charactenbus a to designatis, denote muocauerit, et euin ad salutis portum perducere dignens. Qui uiuis et regnas . . .

58 The JUtuale Bomanum has ££ Bene die tio Infirmorum cum Ligno SS. Crucis, D.N.J.C seu Signum S. Mauri Abbatis.” This is a blessing of the sick with a Relic of the Holy Cross and the invocation of S. Benedict and S. Maurus.

59 The Uita S. Mauri (Mabillon, Acta S S. O, S.B , I, 274) is ascribed to a companion, the monk Faustus of Monto Cassmo Pore Delehaye, m his unfortunate and temerarious work IAgendes Hagiographiques (translation. London, 1907), indecorously attacks this and treats S. Maurus with scant respect A worthy defence was made by Adlhoch, Stud. u. Mittheil. , 1903, 3 ; 1906, 185. According to Peter the Deacon he also wrote a Cantus ad B Maurum.

60 Blessed Victor III. Dialogues , I, 2.

61 Abb6 Lebeuf. Histaire du dioc&se de Paris , V. 129 sqq.

62 Portraits of him are preserved at Rome and Valladolid.

63 A hearty believer m witchcraft. H© had sent at least one witch to the gallows, and another to prison.

64 Apparently the work of Darrel himself, but m the Huth catalogue (V, 1643) ascribed to James Bamford.

65 Darrel in his Detection of that sinnful, shamful , lying , and ridiculous discours of Samuel JBarshnet , 1600, writes : “ There is no doubt but that S.H. stand for Samuell Harsnet, chap line to the Bishop of London, but whither he alone, or his lord and hee, have discovered this count erf ey ting and cosonage there is the question. Some think the book© to be the Bishop’s owne doing ; and many thinke it to be the joynt work of them both.”

68 On 10 November, 1629, he was sworn of the Privy Council.


DIABOLIC POSSESSION 273

67 Whence Shakespeare derived the names of various evil spirits whom Edgar mentions in King Lear .

68 I do not conceive that at the present time many, if any. Bishops of the Church of England would license exorcism. Certainly the more scientifically minded and modernistic Lords Spiritual of the Anglican bench have rid themselves of such an idle superstition. How they would explain Our Blessed Lord’s ^ words and actions I do not pretend to know, but I suppose that according to their wider knowledge Christ— sit uema nerbis —was mistaken in this as m other particulars.

69 Qolloquia Mensalia, passimj

70 It is difficult to see how the teachings of such a Protestant leader as Caspar von Schwenckfeld (1489-90—1561) are anything save tantamount to mere personal morality and a vague individual pietism. A critical edition of his numerous works is in course of publication under the editorship of Hartranft, Sehlutter, and J ohnson : Corpus Sckwenekfeldianorum, I, Leipzig,

71 Parker’s Correspondence, Parker Society, Cambridge, 1856, pp. 465-6.

72 By vomiting pms and straws they had made many believe that they were bewitched, but the tricks were soon found out and they were compelled to public penance at S. Paul’s. There is a black letter pamphlet The discloysing of a late counter fey ted possession by the devyl m two maydens within the Citie of London [1574], which describes this case. See also Hohnshed, Chronicles (ed. London, 1808), IV, 825, and Stow Annalcs, London, 1031, p. 678. But the fact that there are malingerers does not mean there are none sick.

73 Marie Clover's late woefull case. ... A defence of the iruthe against JD. J . his scandalous Impugnations , British Museum, Sloano MSS., 831. Sinclar, Satan's Invisible Wo?Id Discovered , Edinburgh, 1685, Relation XII quotes an account of Mary Glover from Lewis Hughes"’ Co?tame (hicvances (1641—2); and hence Burton, The Kingdom of Da? Jen ess, and Hutchinson, Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft, both assign a wrong date (1642) to the occurrence.

74 Enlarged edition, 1720.

75 The Other World, London, 1875, I, pp. 59-69. The incident is narrated by Fortescue Hiichins, The History of Cornwall, Helston, 1824, 31, pp. 548-51 ; and also in fuller detail by the Rev. R. S. Hawker, Footprints of Former Men in Far Cornwall, London, 1870, who quotes from Ruddle’s MS. Diary,

78 Six miles north of S. Columb and three miles due south from Padstow.

77 A full and documented account of these strange happonings may be found in Lucifer, or the True Story of the Famous Diabolic Possession in Alsace , London, 1922, with the Imprimatur of the Bishop of Brentwood. Compiled from original documents by the abbh Paul Sutter and translated by the Rev. Theophilus Borer.

78 Jesus . . . comminatus est spiritui immundo, dicens ill!: Surdo et mute spintus. Ego preecipio tibx, ©xi ah eo a et amplius no introcas in cum. Euan. sec. Marcum. IX. 25.

79 1726-1755. This great Saint was then Venerable; he was beatified by Leo XIII, 29 January, 1893, and canonized by Pius X, 11 December, 1903. His feast is kept on 16 October.

80 Peter Paul Stumpf succeeded Andreas Bass as Bishop of Sirasburg,

1887-1890, *

81 Une Possedi e Contemporaine (1834—1914). Helene Poirier de Coultons (Loiret). Pans, T<§qui, 1924. An ample study, profusely documented, of 517 pages, edited by M. le Chanoine Champault of the diocese of Orleans.

82 -A- partly de cetto dpoque, la vie d’HMono s’6coule.ra au milieu de souf- frances physiques et morales si grandos, quo dans sa boucho los plaintes de Job ne seraient point ddplac6es.

® 3 ^ Mr. G. R. S. Mead, however, in this connexion not impertinently recalls the controlling ’ of members of the Shaker communities by what purported to be spirits of North American Indians. This was prior to 1848.

84 Sea souffyances physiques et morales, commences lo 25 mars, 1850, so poursuivirent jusqu’d, sa mort, 8 janvier, 1914, soit pendant soixanfce-quafcre ans.

T


274 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

Toutefois les vexations diaboliques cess6rent vors la fin de 1897 Cos vexa¬ tions durerent done pies de quarante-sept annees, dont six de possession

85 Du 25 mars, 1850, au courant de mars, 1808, Helene jut settlement obsddde. Cette obsession dura done 18 annees Au bout do c© temps et pendant 13 mots olle fut obsedee et possedee tout ensemble.

D© robsession et de la possession olio fut compl&tement deliviee par los exoreismew officials, a Oileans, le 19 avril, 1869.

Suiviront quatro mois de tianqiiilhie, jusqiLaii recommencement volon- tauo ©t genoreux do ses pomes

A la fin d’aofit, 1869, elle aceepta do la mam de Noire Seigneur les tom men! s d’unc nouvolle obsession ot possession afin d’obtemi la conversion du eclebro general Duerot La conversion obtenue, elle fut deliviee a Lourdes le 3 septembro, 1873, par les prieres des 15,000 pelerms qui s'y tiouvaiont leurus Obsession et possession renourelees avaient dure cinq ans

Plus jamais, pendant les quoranto ans qu’elle avail encore a vivre, olio n© fut possede©, mais elle eontinua a etre obsedee tantot. plus, tantot moms Les souftrances de toutos sortes, qu'olle ©ndura alors, euiont pour but d’obtomr

10 salut et le triompho du clorgo

Quant aux raisons et au but dos premieres persecutions diaboliques qu’ollo subit pendant dix-neuf ans et dont elle fut deliviee par los exoicosmos oltieiels, ils sont restes ineonnus Unc Possedee C on temporal ne (1834-1914), pp 171-2.

86 A fragment of the soutane of this most holy Pontiff was taken to Hclone and during one of her fits placed upon her forehead At the contact she cried out; Le Pape est un saint, oui un grand saint.” (Tho Pope is a Saint, truly a great Saint ’)

87 Pour y ©tie admis, il faut apporter uno ou plusiors hosties consacrees, les remettio au ddtnon epu, sous forme oorporelle ou visible, preside Passcmbldo

11 faut low profanei chime maiuexe horrible, adorer 1© demon lui-memo ot eommettie avec lui et los autros socidtairos les actes dhmpudicite les plus rovoltants Trois vdles • Pans, Romo, et Touis sent les sieges de cetto sociot© mfomalo

88 La se condo possession fut plus terrible quo la premie re 1°: Par la dui 6© ; la premiere fut de tieize mo is, la secondo de cmq ans 2°. La premiere fut a loucie par do nombreuses consolations surnaturellos; la secondo tres pen. 3 e * Los devices abouderent dans la premiere; dans la second© los avames morales Temportoront d© beaucoup sin* les avames physiques, Une Possedee Oontemporaine (1834-1914), p 405

89 Spirit Possession, Henry M. Hugunm, published in Sycamore, HI , U.S.A.

90 One should note the implication that science and faith are opposed. Dr. Wilfred T. (J rent ell pointedly comments. “ This question seems mept. To me the terms are not m antithesis, i e logical v spiritual.

91 .Edited by Huntiy Carter Pishcr Unwin, 1920.

92 Whose contribution, Prom Non-Religion to Pehgion , opens with the following mepitudo : “I think that tho renewal of Spiritualism is mainly duo to a real increase m our knowledge of psychical facts.” This phrase could only have been written by one wholly ignorant of mystical theology, and, it would seem, of historical Christianity.

93 Spiritualism , Its Present-Day Meaning , p 258

94 Idem , p. 269.

99 Idem , pp. 270-1.

90 Idem , p 2 f-5.

97 Idem, ii 206.

98 Idem , pp. 206-7

99 Idem , p. 205. Tho words are those of Father Bernard Vaughan.

xoo “ Seventeen Elementary Facts concerning Spiritualism.” Light , 21 February, 1925. Her© we also have the frank avowal: “ Modern Spiritualism is only a revival of phenomena and experiences that were well knowm in ancient times.” It should be remarked that similar phenomena, believed to be a genuine case of haunting, occurred at the house of Mr. Samuel Wesley, at Epworth, Lincolnshire, in 1716, and attracted universal attention. It is


DIABOLIC POSSESSION


275


said that the blockings at the house of Parsons, Cock Lane, West Smitbfield, m 1760, were proved to be fraud, but I do not know that the case has ever been candidly studied

101 She took part m a seance on 25 October, 1860, but this seems to ha\e been exceptional

102 Washington Daily Star , 7 March, 1893, quoted m The Medium and the Daybreak , 7 Apnl, 1893

103 Tn the u educational” pinners piepared by eeitam spintists for use by children, the story of the Fox Sisteis is told m glowing colours to a point, but the history of their downfall is suppressed

101 He died at Bedford, 5 September, 1892 His control was the spirit Imperator, v ho claimed to be the prophet Malaclnas For a very full bio¬ graphy see Arthur Lillie’s Modem Mystics and Modem Magic London. 1894.

loo For Mrs Bassett see The Medium, 11 April and 18 A pul, 1873, pp, 174 and 182, for Miss Showers, The Medium , 8 May and 22 May, pp. 294 and 326

106 Medium and Daybeak, 15 November, 1S78, p. 730

107 VEclair, 6 April, 1909

10b Dr Chasset, IS Oct ultisme, pp 56, sqq , p 421.

loo p l} 0( p s ( i( > s pp l? it e< p y ^ o Paris. 1875.

110 La Revue Spirite and If Echo da Mcntahsme , Nov , 1908

111 Who apparently behoves that Spin!ism is authorised by the Scriptures, and that rainy of the prophets, nay, o\en Oui Divmo Lord Himself, weie but modmms

112 Light {Saturday, 21 February, 1925, p 89

113 Organized m 1882 for the scientific examination of “ debatable phenom¬ ena ”

111 See the Ropoit presented 11 May, 1922, and published by The Magic Clide, Anderton’s Hotel, Fleet Stieot

115 The Cohgher (hick, May to August, 1921. Experiences of E E Fournier d’Albo, D.sc. London, Watkins, 1922.

116 The Classification of Psychic Phenomena, by W. Loftus Hare. The Occult Review , efuly, 1924, p 38

117 Her real name appears to be Martho Beraud. Professor Richot is utisfiod that m his experiments with this medium at the Villa Carmen (Algiers) n 1905 genuine materialization was effected*

118 Who, as noted above, specializes m the Ouija-Board and Automatic Writing

11 Ho has written such works as The New Revelation , and compiled The Spiritualists' Reader , “A Collection of Spirit Messages from many sources, ipecially prepared for Short Headings.”

120 In all of whoso documents the distinction is clearly drawn between ogiknmto scientific investigation and superstitious abuses


CHAPTER VII


The Witch in Dramatic Literature

The English theatre, in common with every other form of the world’s drama, had a religious, or even more exactly a liturgical, origin. At the Norman Conquest as the English monasteries began to be filled with cultured French scholars there is evidence that Latin dialogues, the legends of saints and martyrs, something after the fashion of Hrotsvitha’s comedies, which we do not imagine to have been a unique phenomenon, found their way here also, and from recitation to the representation of these was an easy and indeed inevitable step. For it is almost impossible to declaim without appropriate action. From the very heart of the liturgy itself arose the Mystery Play.

The method of performing these early English guild plays has been frequently and exactly described, and I would only draw attention to one feature of the movable scaffold which passed from station to station, that is the dark cavern at the side of the last of the three sedes, Hell-mouth. No pains were spared to make this as horrible and realistic as might be. Demons with hideous heads issued from it, whilst ever and anon lurid flames burst forth and dismal cries were heard. Thus the Digby S. Mary Magdalen play has the stage- direction : “ a stage, and Helle ondyrneth that stage.” At Coventry the Cappers had a “ hell-mouth ” for the Harrowing of Hell, and the Weavers another for Doomsday. This was provided with fire, a windlass, and a barrel for the earth¬ quake. In the stage-directions to Jordan’s Cornish Creation of the World Lucifer descends to hell “ apareled fowle w th fyre about hem ” and the place is filled with “ every degre of devylls of lether and spirytis on cordis.” Among the “ establies ” required for the Rouen play of 1474 was “ Enfer fait en maniere d’une grande gueulle se eloant et ouvrant quant besoing en est.” The last stage-direction of the

276


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 277


Sponsus , a liturgical play from Limoges,—assigned by M. M. W. Cloetta and G. Paris to the earlier half of the twelfth century—which deals with the Wise and Foolish Virgins runs as follows : “ Modo accipiant eas [fatuas uirgines ] dcemones et prcecipitentur in infernum

The Devil himself is one of the most prominent characters in the Mystery, the villain of the piece. So the York cycle commences with The Creation and the Fall of Lucifer . Whilst the Angels are singing 44 Holy, Holy, Holy 55 before the throne of God, Satan appears exulting in his pride to be cast down speedily into hell whence he howls his complaint beginning 44 Owte, owte ! harrowe ! 99 There is a curious incident in the episode of the Dream of Pilate’s wife. Whilst she sleeps Satan whispers in her ear the vision which moves her to try to stay the condemnation of Jesus whereby mankind is to be redeemed. The last play of the York cycle is the Day of Judgement .

In like manner the Towneley cycle opens with The Creation , and presently we have the stage-direction hie deus recedit a suo solio & lucifer sedehit in eodem solio. The scene soon shifts to hell when we hear the demons reproaching Lucifer for his pride. After the creation of Adam and Eve follows Lucifer’s lament. In the long episode of Doomsday a number of demons appear and are kept inordinately busy.

The Devil was represented as black, with goat’s horns, ass’s ears, cloven hoofs, and an immense phallus. He is, in fact, the Satyr of the old Dionysiac processions, a nature- spirit, the essence of joyous freedom and unrestrained delight, shameless if you will, for the old Greek knew not shame. He is the figure who danced light-heartedly across the Aristophanaic stage, stark nude in broad midday , 1 animally physical, exuberant, ecstatic, crying aloud the primitive refrain, eraipe B cucxtov, fflyicwjue, vvtcrep ottX dvrjTe, /moix*,

iraiSepacrTa, (Phales, boon mate of Bacchus, joyous comrade in the dance, wanton wanderer o’ nights, fornicating Phales), in a word he was Paganism incarnate, and Paganism was the Christian’s deadliest foe ; so they took him, the Bacchic reveller, they smutted him from horn to hoof, and he remained the Christian’s deadliest foe, the Devil . 2

It was long before the phallic demon was banished the stage, for strange as it may seem, positive evidence exists


278 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

that he was known there as late as Shakespeare’s day. In 1620 was published in London by Edward Wright A Courtly Masque : The Deuice called , The World tost at Tennis. 44 As it hath beene diners times Presented to the Contentment of many Noble and Worthy Spectators : By the Prince his Seruants.” It was 44 Inuented and set downe by Tho : Middleton, Gent, and William Rowley, Gent.” The title-page presents a rough engraving of the various characters in this masque, doubtless from a sketch made at the actual per¬ formance. Outside the main group stands a hideous black figure 44 The Diuele,” who made his appearance towards the end to take part in the last dance, furnished with horns, hoofs, talons, tail, and a monstrous phallus. It may be remarked that these horns are prominent on the goat-like head (a clear satyr) of the Devil in Doctor Faustus as depicted on the title-page of the Marlovian quarto. A phallus, to which reference is made in the text, was also worn by the character dressed up as the monkey ( Bavian ) in the May- dance scene in Shakespeare & Fletcher’s The Two Noble Kinsman , Act III, 5, 1613. It is worth remembering that troops of phallic demons formed a standing characteristic of the old German carnival comedy. Moreover, several of the grotesque types of the Commedia dell’ arte in the second decade of the seventeenth century were traditionally equipped in like manner. 3 That the Devil was so represented in the English theatre is important. It gives us the popular idea of the Prince of Evil, and incidentally throws a side-light upon much of the grotesque and obscene evidence in the contemporary witch-trials.

In Skelton’s lost Nigramansir one of the stage directions is stated to have been 44 Enter Balsebub with a beard,” no doubt the black vizard with an immense goatish beard familiar to the old religious drama. Presumably the chief use of the Necromancer, who gives his name to this play, was indeed but to speak the Prologue which summons the Devil who buffets and kicks him for his pains. However, we only know the play from Warton, who describes it as having been shown him by William Collins, the poet, at Chichester, about 1759. He says ; 44 It is the Nigramansir, a morall Enterlude and a pithie, written by Maister Skelton laureate, and plaid before the King and other


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 279


estatys at Woodstoke on Palme Sunday. It was printed by Wynkyn de Worde in a thin quarto, in the year 1504. It must have been presented before Henry VII, at the royal manor or palace at Woodstock in Oxfordshire, now destroyed. The characters are a Necromancer or conjurer, the devil, a notary public, Simony, and Philargyria or Avarice. It is partly a satire on some abuses in the Church. . . . The story, or plot, is the trial of Simony and Avarice . 59 Beyond what Wart on tells us nothing further is known of the play. Ritson, Bibliographia Poetica , 106, declared : “ it is utterly incredible that the Nigramansir . . . ever existed . 55 It has been shown, too, that Warton as a literary historian is not infrequently suspect, and E. G. Duff, Hand Lists of English Printers , can trace no extant copy of this u morall Enierlude

In the English moralities the Devil plays an important part, and, as in their French originals or analogues, he is consistently hampering and opposing the moral purpose or lesson which the action of these compositions is designed to enforce. In the later English plays also which evolved with added regularity from these interludes the Devil is always a popular character. He is generally attended by the Vice, who although in some sort a serving-man or jester in the fiend’s employ, devotes his time to twitting, tcazing, torment¬ ing, and thwarting his master for the edification, not unmixed with fun, of the audience. In The Castell of Perseverance Lucifer appears shouting in good old fashion “ Out herowe I rore , 55 just as he was wont to announce himself m the Mysteries, and he is wearing his u devil’s array ” over the habit of a 66 prowde galaunt.” Wever’s Lusty Juventus has unmistakable traces of the slime of the evil days of Edward VI, in whose reign it was written, and when the Devil calls Hipocrisy to his aid we are prepared for a flood of empty but bitter abuse which embodies the sour Puritan hatred against the Catholic Church, and towards the end, under the misnomer God’s Merciful Promises, we are not surprised to meet a tiresome old gentleman who cantingly expounds the doctrine of Justification by Faith. *

In the interlude to which Collier has assigned the name Mankind Mischief summons to her aid the fiend Titivillus, who had appeared in the Judicium of the Towneley Mysteries. Once the Devil’s registrar and tollsman, he is best known as 44 Master Lollard .’ 5 According to a silly old superstition Tibi villus was an imp whose business it was to pick up the words any priest might drop and omit whilst saying Mass.

When we pass to the beginnings of the regular drama we And an extremely interesting play that introduces, if not magic, at least fortune-telling, John Lyly’s “ Pleasant Con¬ ceited Comedie 55 Mother Bombie , acted by the children of Paul’s and first printed in 1594. Although the plot is of the utmost complexity and artificiality it does not seem to be derived, as are most of Lyly’s stories, from any classical or pseudo-classical source, whilst the cunning old woman of Rochester, who supplies the title, has in fact little to say or do, except that her intervention helps to bring about the unravelling of a perfect maze and criss-cross of incidents. When Selena addresses the beldame with “ They say, you are a witch,” Mother Bombie quickly retorts “ They lie, I am a cunning woman,” a passage not without significance.

Upon a very different level from Lyly’s play stands Marlowe’s magnificent drama The Tragical History of Dr. Fausius. The legend of a man who sells his soul to the Devil for infinite knowledge and absolute power seems to have crystallized about the sixth century, when the story of Theophilus was supposed to have been related in Greek by his pupil Eutychianus. Of course, every warlock had bartered his soul to Satan, and throughout the whole of the Middle Ages judicial records, the courts of the Inquisition, to say nothing of popular knowledge, could have told of a thousand such. But this particular legend seems to have captured the imagination of both Western and Eastern Christendom; it is met with in a variety of forms; it was introduced into the collections of Jacopo a Voragine; it found its way into the minstrel repertory through Rutebeuf, a French trouvere of the thirteenth century ; it reappeared in early English narrative and in Low-German drama. Icelandic variants of the story have been traced. It was made the subject of a poem by William Forrest, priest and poet, in 1572 ; and it also formed the material for two seventeenth-century Jesuit “ comedies.”

That the original Faust was a real personage , 4 a wandering conjurer and medical quack, who was well known in the south-west of the German Empire, as well as in Thuringia,


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 281


Saxony, and the adjoining countries somewhere between the years 1510-1540, does not now admit of any serious doubt. Philip Begardi, a physician of Worms, author of an Index Saniiatis (1589), mentions this charlatan, many of whose dupes he personally knew. He says that Faust was at one time frequently seen, although of later years nothing had been heard of him. It has indeed been suggested the whole legend originated in the strange history of Pope S. Clement I and his father Faustus, or Faustinianus, as related in the Recognitions , which were immensely popular throughout the Middle Ages. But Melanchthon knew a Johannes Faustus bom at Knfitlingen, in Wurtemberg, not far from his own home, who studied magic at Cracow, and after¬ wards c ‘ roamed about and talked of secret things. 55 There was a doctor Faustus in the early part of the sixteenth century, a friend of Paracelsus and Cornelius Agrippa, a scholar who w r on an infamous reputation for the practice of necromancy. In 1518 Conrad Mutt, the Humanist, came across a vagabond magician at Erfurt named Georgius Faustus Hermitheus of Heidelberg. Trithemius in 1506, met a Faustus junior whose boast it was that if all the works of Plato and Aristotle were burned he could restore them from memory. It seems probable that it was to the Dr. Faustus, the companion of Paracelsus and Cornelius 5 Agrippa, that the legend became finally and definitely attached. The first literary version of the story was the Volksbuch, which was published by Johann Spies in 158T, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, who tells us that he obtained the manuscript “ from a good friend at Spier,” and it soon afterwards appeared in England as The History of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Dr. John Faustus , a chap-book to which Marlowe mainly adhered for the incidents in his play. The tragedy was carried across to Germany by the English actors who visited that country in the last years of the sixteenth and the earlier part of the seventeenth century, and thus, while it was itself derived from a German source, it greatly influenced, if it did not actually give rise to, the treatment of the same theme by the German popular drama and puppet-play. These were seldom printed, and usually for the most part extem¬ porized, keeping all the while more or less closely to the theme. Scheible in his Kloster (1847), Volume V, gives


282 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

the excellent Ulna piece, and there are marionette versions edited by W. Hamm (1850 ; English translation by T. C. H. Hedderwick, 1887), O. Schade (1856), K. Engel (1874), Bielschowsky (1882), and Kralik and Winter (1885).

Lessing projected two presentations of the story, and Klinger worked the subject into a romance, Fausts Leben , Thaten , und Hollenfahrl (1791 ; translated into English by George Barrow in 1826). A bombast tragedy w r as published by Klingemann in 1815, whilst Lenau issued his epico- dramatic Faust in 1886. Heine’s ballet Der Doctor Faust , ein Tanzpoem appeared in 1851. The libretto for Spohr’s opera (1814) was written by Bernard.

Goethe’s masterpiece, planned as early as 1774, was given to the world in 1808, but the second part was delayed until 1831.

General evidence points to 1588 as the date of the first production of Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus , for it seems certain that the ballad of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus the great Conjurer , entered in the Stationers’ Register, February, 1589, did not precede but was suggested by the drama. The first extant quarto is 1604, but already it had been subjected to more than one revision. Upon the stage Doctor Faustus long remained popular, and in England, at least, however fragmentary Marlowe’s tragedy may be it has never been supplemented by any other literary handling of its theme. Old Prynne in his Histriomastix (1683) retails an absurd story to the effect that the Devil in propria persona ct appeared on the stage at the Belsavage Playhouse in Queen Elizabeth's days ” whilst the tragedy was being performed, cc the truth of which I have heard from many now alive who well remember it.” It was revived after the Restoration, and on Monday, 26 May, 1662, Pepys and his wife witnessed the production at the Red Bull, “ but so wretchedly and poorly done that we were sick of it.” It was being performed at the Theatre Royal in the autumn of 1675, but no details are recorded. In 1685-6 at Dorset Garden appeared William Mountfort’s The Life and Death of Doctor Faustus , Made into a Farce, with the Humours of Harlequin and Scaramouch, a queer mixture of Marlowe’s scenes with the Italian commedia dell' arte . Harlequin was acted by nimble Thomas Jevon, the first English harlequin, and Scaramouch by Antony Leigh,


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 283


the most whimsical of comedians. At the end of the third act after Faustus has been carried away by Lucifer and Mephistopheles, his body is discovered torn in pieces. Then “ Faustus Limbs come together. A Dance and SongA This farce was continually revived with great applause, and during the whole of the eighteenth century Faust was the central figure of pantomime after pantomime. Nearly forty dramatic versions of the Faust legend might be enumerated. Many are wildly romantic and were especially beloved of the minor theatres : such are Faustus by G. Soane and D. Terry, produced at Drury Lane 16 May, 1825, with “ O 55 Smith as Mephistopheles ; H. P. Grattan’s Faust , or The Demon of the Drachenfels performed at Sadlers Wells, 5 September, 1842, with Henry Marston, Mephistopheles, T. Lyon, Faust, “ the Magician of Wittenberg,” Caroline Rankley, Marguerite; T. W. Robertson’s Faust and Ma?guerite , played at the Princess’s Theatre in April, 1854 : some are operatic ; the ever-popular Faust of Gounod, with libretto by Barbier and Carre, first seen at the Theatre Lyrique, Paris, in 1859 ; and Hector Berlioz’ The Damnation of Faust, which, adapted to the English stage by T. H. Friend, was performed at the Court, Liverpool, 3 February, 1894 ; many more are burlesques, descendants of the eighteenth-century farces, amongst which may be remembered F. C. Burnard’s Faust and Marguerite, S. James, 9 July, 1864 ; C. H. Ilazlewood’s Faust: or Marguerite"s Mangle, Britannia Theatre, 25 March, 1867; Byron’s Little Doctor Faust (1877); Faust in Three Flashes (1884); Faust in Forty Minutes (1885); and the most famous of all the travesties Faust Up to Date, produced at the Gaiety, 30 October, 1888, with E. J. Lonnen as Mephistopheles and Florence St. John as Marguerite. In France the Faust —apres Goethe—of Theaulou and Gondelier first seen at the Nouveautes, 27 October, 1827, had a great success, and in the following year no less than three pens, Antony Beraud, Charles Nodier, and Merle, combined to produce a Faust in three acts, the music of which is by Louis Alexandre Piccini, the grandson of Gluck’s famous rival. In 1858 Adolphe Dennery gave the Parisian stage Faust, a £fi drame fantastique ” in five acts and sixteen tableaux, a drama of the Grattan school, effective enough in a lurid Sadlers Wells way, which is, at any rate, a


284 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

vein greater dramatists have exploited with profit and applause*

Of more recent English dramas which have the Faust legend as their theme the most striking is undoubtedly the adapta¬ tion by W. G. Wills from the first part of Goethe’s tragedy, which was produced at the Lyceum 19 December, 1885, with H. H. Conway as Faust; George Alexander, Valentine; Mrs* Stirling, Martha; Miss Ellen Terry, Margaret; and Henry Irving, Mephistopheles. Not merely in view of the masterpieces of Marlowe and Goethe, but even by the side of theatrical versions of the legend from far lesser men the play itself was naught, a superb pantomime, a thing helped out by a witches 5 kitchen, by a bacchanalia of demons, by chromo-lithographic effects, by the mechanist and the brushes of Telbin and Hawes Craven, but it was informed throughout and raised to heights of greatness, nay, even to awe and terror, by the genius of Irving as the red-plumed Mephis¬ topheles, that sardonic, w^eary, restless figure, horribly unreal yet mockingly alert and alive, who dominated the whole.

To attempt a comparison between Marlowe and Goethe were not a little absurd, and it is superfluous to expatiate upon the supreme merits of either masterpiece* In Goethe’s mighty and complex work the story is in truth refined away beneath a wealth of immortal philosophy. Marlowe adheres quite simply to the chap-book incidents, and yet in all profane literature I scarcely know words of more shuddering dread and complete agony than Faust’s last great speech :

Ah, Faustus,

Now hast thou but one bare hour to live.

And then thou must be damned perpetually I

The scene becomes intolerable. It is almost too painful to be read, too overcharged with hopeless darkness and despair.

As it is in some sense at least akin to the Faust story it may not be impertinent briefly to mention here an early Dutch secular drama, which has been called 4 6 one of the gems of Dutch mediaeval literature,” A Marvellous History of Mary of Nimmegen, who for more than seven years lived and had ado with the Devil f printed by William Vorsterman of Antwerp about 1520* It is only necessary to call attention to a few features of the legend. Mary, the niece of the old


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 285


priest Sir Gysbucht, one night meets the Devil in the shape of Moonen with the single eye . He undertakes to teach her all the secrets of necromancy if she will but refrain from crossing herself and change her name to Lena of Gretchen. But Mary, who has had a devotion to our Lady, insists upon retaining at least the M in her new nomenclature, and so becomes Emmekin. cc Thus Emma and Moonen lived at Antwerp at the sign of the Golden Tree in the market, where daily of his contrivings were many murders and slayings together with every sort of wickedness. 5 ' Emma then resolves to visit her uncle, and insists upon Moonen accompanying her to Nimmegen. It is a high holiday and she sees by chance the mystery of Maskeroon on a pageant-waggon in a public square. Our Lady is pleading before the throne of God for mankind, and Emma is filled with strange remorse to hear such blessed words. Moonen carries her off, but she falls and is found in a swoon by the old priest, her uncle. No priest of Nimmegen dared shrive her, not even the Bishop of Cologne, and so she journeyed to Rome, where the Holy Father heard her confession and bade her wear in penitence three strong bands of iron fastened upon neck and arms. Thus she returned to Macstricht to the cloister of the Converted Sinners, and there her sorrow was so prevailing and her humility so unfeigned that an Angel in token of Divine forgiveness removed the irons as she slept.

And go ye to Macstricht, an ye be able

And in the Converted Sinners shall ye see

The grave of Emma, and there all three

The rings be hung above her grave. 7

Magic and fairy-land loom large in the plays of Robert Greene, whose place in English literature rests at least as much upon bis prose-tracts as on his dramas. It seems to me fairly obvious that The Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay , which almost certainly dates from 1589, although the first quarto is 1594, was composed owing to the success of Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus . Greene was not the man to lose an opportunity of exploiting fashion, and with his solid British bent I have no doubt he considered an old English tale of an Oxford magician would be just as effective as imported legends from Frankfort and Wittenberg. To


286 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


say that the later play is on an entirely different level is not to deny it interest and considerable charm. But in spite of Bacon’s avowal

Thou know’st that I have dived into hell And sought the darkest palaces of fiends ;

That with my magic spells great Belccphon,

Hath left his lodge and kneeled at my cell,

his sorceries are in lighter vein than those of Faustus ; moreover neither his arts nor the magic of Friar Bungay form the essential theme of the play, which also sketches the love of Edward, Prince of Wales (afterwards Edward I) for Margaret, “the fair Maid of Fressmgfield.” It is true Bacon conjures up spirits enough, and we are shown his study at Brascnose with the episode of the Brazen Head. It may be noted that Miles, Bacon’s servant, is exactly the Vice of the Moralities, and at the end he rides off farcically enough on the Devil’s back, whilst Bacon announces his intention of spending the remainder of his years m becoming penitence for his necromancy and magic.

In Greene’s Orlando Furioso , 4to, 1594, which is based on Ariosto, canto XXIII, we meet Melissa, an enchantress : and in Alphonsus , King of Arragon , 4to, 1599, which is directly imitative of Tamburlaine , a sibyl with the classical name Medea, conjures up Calehas “in a white surplice and eardinaPs mitre,” and here we also have a Brazen Head through which Mahomet speaks. A far more interesting play is A Looking Glasse for London and England , 4to, 1594, an elaborated Mystery upon the history of the prophet Jonah and the repentance of Nineveh. Among the characters are a Good Angel, an Evil Angel, and “ one clad in Devil’s attire,” who is soundly drubbed by Adam the buffoon. In 1598 was published, “ As it hath bene sundrie times publikely plaide,’*’ The Scottish Historic of lames the fourth , slainc at Floddcn. Entermixed with a pleasant Comedic, presented by Oboram , King of Fayeries . But the fairies only appear in a species of prose prologue, and in brief interludes between the acts.

George Peele’s charming piece of folk-lore The Old Wives* Talc introduces among its quaint commixture of episodes the warlock Sacripant, son of a famous witch Meroe , 8 who


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 287


has stolen away and keeps under a spell the princess Delia. His power depends upon a light placed in a magic glass which can only be broken under certain conditions. Eventu¬ ally Sacripant is overcome by the aid of a friendly ghost, Jack, the glass broken, the light extinguished, and the lady restored to her lover and friends.

Other magicians who appear in various dramas of the days of Elizabeth and her immediate successors are Brian Sansfoy in the primitive Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes, 4to, 1599 ; the Magician in The Wars of Cyrus ; Friar Bacon, Friar Bungay, and Jaques Vandermast in Greene’s Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, Merlin and Proxinms in the pseudo- Shakespearean The Birth of Merlin, where the Devil also figures ; Ormandini and Argalio in The Seven Champions of Christendom, where we likewise have Calib, a witch, her incubus Tarpax, and Suekabus their clownish son ; Coni us in Milton’s masque; Mago the conjurer with his three familiars Eo, Men, and Areo in Cokain’s Trappolin Creduto Principe , Trappoliii suppos'd, a Prince , 4fo, 1959, excellent light fare, which Nahum Tate turned info A Duke and No Duke and produced al Drury Lane in November, 108*1, and which in one form or another, sometimes 44 a comic melo¬ dramatic burletta,” sometimes a ballad opera, sometimes a, farce, was popular until the early decades of the nineteenth century.

Seeing that actors are 44 the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time,” it is not surprising to find that Witchcraft has a very important, part in the theatre'- of Shakespeare. Sett ing aside such a purely fairy fantasy as A Midsuntmer-Nighfs Dream, such figures as the 44 threadbare juggler ” Pinch in The Comedy of Errors , such scones as the hobgoblin mask beneath Herne’s haunted oak, such references as that to Mother Prat,, the old woman of Brainford, who worked 44 by charms, by spells, by the figure,” or the vile abuse by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, of 44 Edward’s wife, that monstrous witch, Consorted wilh Dial harlot strumpet Shore,” we have one historical drama King Henry 17, Part II, in which an incantation scene plays no small part; we have one romantic comedy The Tempest, one* tragedy Macbeth, the very motives and development of which are due to magic and supernatural charms. It must perhaps be


288 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


remarked that King Henry VI, Part I, Is defiled by the obscene caricature of S. Joan of Arc, surely the most foul and abominable irreverence that shames English literature. It is too loathsome for words, and I would only point out the enumeration in one scene where various familiars are introduced of the most revolting details of contemporary witch-trials, but to think of such horrors in connexion with S. Joan revolts and sickens the imagination.

In King Henry VI (Part II) the Duchess of Gloucester employs John Hume and John Southwell, two priests; Bolingbroke, a conjurer ; and Margery Jourdemain, a witch, to raise a spirit who shall reveal the several destinies of the King, and the Dukes of Suffolk and Somerset. The scene is written with extraordinary power and has not a little of awe and terror. Just as the demon is dismissed ? mid thunder and lightning the Duke of York with his guards rush in and arrest the sorcerers. Later the two priests and Bolingbroke are condemned to the gallows, the witch in Smithfield is 61 burn’d to ashes, 55 whilst the Duchess of Gloucester after three days 5 public penance is banished for life to the Isle of Man.

The incidents as employed by Shakespeare are fairly correct. It is certain that the Duchess of Gloucester, an ambitious and licentious woman, called to her counsels Margery Jourdemain, commonly known as the Witch of Eye, Roger Bolingbroke an astrologer, Thomas Southwell, Canon of S. Stephen’s, a priest named Sir John Hume or Hun, and a certain William Wodham. These persons frequently met in secret, and it was discovered that they had fashioned according to the usual mode a wax image of the King which they melted before a slow fire. Bolingbroke confessed, and Hume also turned informer; and in 1441 Bolingbroke was placed on a high scaffold before PauPs Cross together with a chair curiously carved and painted, found at his lodging, which was supposed to be an instrument of necromancy, and in the presence of Cardinal Beaufort of Winchester, Henry Chicheley, Archbishop of Canterbury, and an imposing array of bishops, he was compelled to make abjuration of his wicked arts. The Duchess of Gloucester, being re- fused sanctuary at Westminster, was arrested and confined in Leeds Castle, near Maidstone. She was brought to trial


PLATE VIII


The Witch of Edmonton

A known true Story.

Corrpofal mio

A TRAGIC OMED


By divers well-cftccmed Pocr 1 ' i

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THE WITCH OF EDMONTON The First Quarto


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WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 289


with her accomplices in October, when sentence was passed upon her as has been related above. Margery Jour domain perished at the stake as a witch and relapsed heretic ; Thomas Southwell died in prison ; and Bolingbroke was hanged at Tyburn, 18 November.

In The Tempest Prospero is a philosopher rather than a wizard, and Ariel is a fairy not a familiar. The magic of Prospero is of the intellect, and throughout, Shakespeare is careful to insist upon a certain detachment from human passions and ambitions. His love for Miranda, indeed, is exquisitely portrayed, and once—at the base ingratitude of Caliban—his anger flashes forth, but none the less, albeit superintending the fortunes of those over whom he watches tenderly, and utterly abhorring the thought of revenge, he seems to stand apart like Providence divinely guiding the events to the desired issue of reconciliation and forgiveness. Even so, the situation was delicate to place before an Eliza¬ bethan audience, and how nobly and with what art does Shakes¬ peare touch upon Prospero’s “rough magic 55 1 In Sycorax we recognize the typical witch, wholly evil, vile, malignant, terrible for mischief, the consort and mistress of devils.

There are few scenes which have so caught the world’s fancy as the wild overture to Macbeth . In storm and wilder¬ ness we are suddenly brought face to face with three mysterious phantasms that ride on the wind and mingle with the mist in thunder, lightning, and in rain. They are not agents of evil, they are evil; nameless, spectral, wholly horrible. And then, after the briefest of intervals, they reappear to relate such exploits as killing swine and begging chestnuts from a sailor’s wife, to brag of having secured such talismans as the thumb of a drowned pilot, businesses proper to Mother Demdike or Anne Bishop of Win can ton, Somerset. Can this change have been intentional ? 1 think not, and

its very violence and quickness arc jarring to a degree. The meeting with Hecate, who is angry, and scolds them “ bel¬ dames as you are, Saucy and overbold ” does not mend matters, and in spite of the horror when the apparitions are evoked, the ingredients of the cauldron, however noisome and hideous, are too material for “ A deed without a name.” There is a weakness here, and it says much for the genius of the tragedy that this weakness is not obtrusively felt, u


290 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

Nevertheless it was upon this that the actors seized when for theatrical effect the incantation scenes had to be “ written up 55 by the interpolation of fresh matter. Davenant also m his frankly operatic version of Macbeth , produced at Dorset Garden in February, 1672-8 elaborated the witch scenes to an incredible extent, although by ample conveyance from Middleton's The Witch together with songs and dances he w r as merely following theatrical tradition. 9

There seems no reasonable doubt that The Witch is a later play than Macbeth , but it is only fair to say that the date of The Witch is unknown—it was first printed in 1778 from a manuscript now in the Bodleian—and the date of Macbeth (earlier than 1610, probably 1606) is not demon¬ strably certain. The Witch is a good but not a distinguished play. Owing to the incantation scenes and its connexion with Macbeth it has acquired an accidental interest, and an enduring reputation. The witches themselves, Hecate and her crew, stand midway between the mystic Norns of the first scene in Macbeth , and the miserable hag of Dekker in The Witch of Edmonton; they are just a little below the Witches in Macbeth as they appear after the opening lines. There is a ghastly fantasy in their revels which is not lessened by the material grossness of Firestone the clown, Hecate’s son. They raise “ jars, jealousies, strifes, and heart-burning disagreements, like a thick scurf o’er life,” and although their figures are often grotesque their power for evil is not to be despised. Much of their jargon, their charms and gaucheries complete, are taken word for word from Reginald Scott’s Discoverie of Witchcraft , London, 1584.

The village witch, as she appeared to her contemporaries, a filthy old doting crone, hunch-backed, ignorant, malevolent, hateful to God and man, is shown with photographic detail in The Witch of Edmonton ; A known True Story by Rowley, Dekker, and Ford, produced at the Cockpit in Drury Lane during the autumn or winter of 1621 . It seems to have been very popular at the time, and not only was it applauded in the public theatre, but it was presented before King James at Court. It did not, however, find its way into print until as late as 1658.

The trial and execution (19 April, 1621) of Elizabeth Sawyer attracted a considerable amount of attention.


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 291


Remarkable numbers of ballads and doggerel songs were made upon the event, detailing her enchantments, how she had blighted standing corn, how a ferret and an owl con- stantly attended her, and of many demons and familiars who companied with her in the prison. Not only were these ditties trolled out the day of the execution but many were published as broadsides, and sold widely. Accordingly the Newgate Ordinary hastened to pen The Wonderfull Discoverie of Elizabeth Sawyer , a Witch , Late of Edmonton ., Her Con¬ viction , and Condemnation , and Death , Together with the Relation of the Divels Accesse to Her , and Their Conference Together , cc Written by Henry Goodcole, Minister of the Word of God, and her Continual Visiter in the Gaole of Newgate,’ 5 Published by Authority, 4to, 1G21. This tractate is in the form, of a dialogue, question and answer, between Goodeole and the prisoner, who makes ample confession of her (Times,

In some ways The Witch of Edmonton is the most interest¬ ing and valuable of the witch dramas, because here we have the hag stripped of the least vestige of glamour and romance presented to us in the starkest realism. We sec her dwelling apart m a wretched hovel, cc shunned and hat ed like a sick¬ ness,” miserably poor, buckl’d and bent together, dragging her palsied limbs wearily through the fields, as she clutches her dirty rags round her withered frame. And if she but dare to gather a few dried slicks in a corner she is driven from the spot with hard wordvS and blows. What wonder her mouth is full of cursing and revenge ?

’Tis all one

To be a witch as to be counted one.

Then appears the Black Dog and seals a contract with her blood. She blights the corn and sends a murrain on the cattle of her persecutors; here a horse has the glanders, there a sow casts her farrow; the maid churns butter nine hours and it will not come ; above all a farmer’s wife, whom she hates, goes mad and dies in frantic agony ; mischief and evil run riot through the town. But presently her familiar deserts her, she falls into the hands of human justice, and after due trial is dragged to Tyburn shrieking and crying out in hideous despair. It is a sordid and a terrible, but one cannot doubt, a true picture.

It is obvious that in this drama m Prank Thorucy, a most


292 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

subtle and minute study of weakness and degeneracy, is wholly Ford’s. Frank Thorney may be closely paralleled with Giovanni in 'Tis Pity She's a Whore . Winmfride, too, has all the sentimental charm of Ford’s heroines, Annabella and Pcnthea.

Carter is unmistakably the creation of Dekker. Simon Eyre and Orlando Fnscobaldo are the same hearty, bluff, hospitable, essentially honest old fellows. To Dekker also I would assign Mother Sawyer herself.

Rowley’s hand is especially discernible in the scenes where Cuddy Banks and the clowns make their appearance.

It may be mentioned that Elizabeth Sawyer figures in Caulfield’s Portraits, Memoirs , and Characters of Remarkable Persons , 1794 ; and she is also referred to in Robinson’s History and Antiquities of the Parish of Edmonton with a woodcut “ from a rare print in the collection of W. Bcckford, esq.”

A second drama which was also actually founded upon a contemporary trial is Heywood and Brome’s The Late Lancashire Witches, cc A Well Received Comedy ” pro¬ duced at the Globe in 1634. 11 In the previous year, 1633, a number of trials for Witchcraft had drawn the attention of all England to Pendle Forest. A boy, by name Edmund Robinson, eleven years of age, who dwelt here with his father, a poor wood-cutter, told a long and detailed story which led to numerous arrests throughout the district. Upon All Saints’ Day when gathering 4 6 bulloes ” in a field he saw two grey¬ hounds, one black, the other brown, each wearing a collar of gold. They fawned upon him, and immediately a hare rose quite near at hand. But the dogs refused to course, whereupon he beat them with a little switch, and the black greyhound started up in the shape of an old woman whom he recognized as Mother Dickenson, a notorious witch, and the other as a little boy whom he did not know. The beldame offered him money, either to buy his silence or as the price of his soul, but he refused. Whereupon taking something like a Bridle cc that gingled ” from her pocket she threw it over the little boy’s head and he became a white horse. Seizing young Robinson in her arms they mounted and were conveyed with the utmost speed to a large house where had assembled some sixty other persons. A bright fire was


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 293


burning on the hearth with roast meat before it. He was invited to partake of 44 Flesh and Bread upon a Trencher and Drink in a Glass,” which he tasted, but at once rejected. He was next led into an adjoining barn where seven old women were pulling at seven halters that hung from the roof. As they tugged large pieces of meat, butter in lumps, loaves of bread, black puddings, milk, and all manner of rustic dainties fell down into large basins which were placed under the ropes. When the seven hags were tired their places were taken by seven others. But as they were engaged at their extraordinary task their faces seemed so fiendish and their glances were so evil that Robinson took to his heels. He was instantly pursued, and he saw that the foremost, of his enemies was a certain Mother Lloynd. But luckily for himself two horsemen, travellers, came up, whereupon the witches vanished. A little later when he was sent in the evening to fetch home two kinc, a boy met him in the dusk and fought him, bruising him badly. Looking down he saw that his opponent had a cloven foot., whereupon he ran away, only to meet Mother Lloynd with a lantern in her hand. She drove him back and he was again mauled by the cloven- footed boy, 12

Such was the story told to the justices and corroborated by Robinson’s father. A reign of terror ensued. Mother Dickenson and Mother Lloynd were at once thrown into jail, and in the next few days more than eighteen persons were arrested. The informer and his father netted a good sum by going round from church to church to point out in the congregations persons whom he recognized as having been in the house and barn to which he was led. A little quiet blackmail of the wealthier county families, threats to disclose the presence of various individuals at the witches’ feast, brought in several hundreds of pounds.

The trial took place at Lancaster Assizes and seventeen of the accused were incontinently found guilty. But the judge, completely dissatisfied with so fantastic* a story, obtained a reprieve. Four of the prisoners were* sent up to London, where they were examined by the Court physicians. King Charles himself also questioned one of these poor wretches and, discerning that the whole history was a fraud,, forthwith pardoned all who had been involved. Meantime


294 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

Dr. John Bridgeman, the Bishop of Chester, had also been holding a special inquiry into the case. Young Robinson was lodged separately, being allowed to hold no communi¬ cation with his relatives, and when closely interrogated he gave way and confessed that the scare from beginning to end had been manoeuvred by his father, who carefully coached him in his lies. In spite of this fiasco the talk did not die down immediately, and there were many who continued to maintain that Mother Dickenson was indeed a witch, however false the evidence on this occasion might be. It must be remembered, moreover, that twenty-two years before, in the very same district, a coven of thirteen witches, of whom the chief was Elizabeth Demdike, had been brought to justice, “ at the Assizes and Generali Gaole-Delivcry, holden at Lancaster, before Sir Edward Bromley and Sir James Eltham.” Old Demdike herself—she was blind and over eighty years of age—died in prison, but ten of the accused were executed, and the trial, which lasted two days, occa¬ sioned a tremendous stir.

It seems not at all improbable that Haywood had written a topical play in 1612 dealing with this first sensational prosecution, and that when practically the same events repeated themselves in the same place less than a quarter of a century after he and the ever-ready Brome fashioned anew the old scenes. In the character of the honourable country-gentleman Master Generous, whose wife is discovered to be guilty of Witchcraft, there is something truly noble, and his tender forgiveness of her crime when she repents is touched with the loving pathos that informs A Woman Kilde with Kindnesse, whilst his agony at her subsequent relapse is very real, although Heywood has wisely refrained from any attempt to show a broken heart save by a few quite simple but poignant words. The play as a whole is a faithful picture of country life, homely enough, yet not without a certain winsome beauty. The comic episodes are sufficiently broad in their humour ; we have a household turned topsy¬ turvy by enchantment, a wedding-breakfast bewitched : the kitchen invaded by snakes, bats, frogs, beetles, and hornets, whilst to cap all the unfortunate bridegroom is rendered impotent. In Act II we have the incident of a Boy with a switch (young Edmund Robinson) and the two greyhounds.


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 295


Gammer Dicldson carries him of! against his will cc to a brave feast/ 5 where we see the witches pulling ropes for food :

Pul for the poultry, foule and fish,

For eruptie shall not be a dish.

In Act Y the Boy tells Doughty the story of his encounter with the Devil : 44 He came to thee like a boy, thou sayest, about thine owne bisnesse ? 35 they ask him, and the whole scene meticulously follows the detailed evidence given before the judge at Lancaster. Of the watches, Goody Diekison, Mai Spencer, Mother Hargrave, Granny Johnson, Meg, Mawd, are actual individuals who were accused by Robinson ; Mrs. Generous alone is the poet’s fiction. When Robin, the blunt serving-man, refuses to saddle the grey gelding she shakes a bridle over his head and using him as a horse makes him carry her to the satanieal assembly. There is a mill, wdneh is haunted by spirits in the shape of eats, and here a soldier undertakes to watch. For two nights he is undisturbed, but on the third 44 Enter Mrs. Generous, Mai, all the Witches and their Spirits (at s eve rail dares ).” 4 4 The Spirits come about him with a dreadfull noise ” but he beads them thence with his sword, lopping off a tabby’s paw m the hurly-burly. In the morning a hand is found, white and shapely, with jewels on the fingers. These Generous recognizes as being his wife’s rings, and Mrs. Generous, who is in bed ill, is found to have one hand cut off at the wrist. This seals her fate. All the witches are dragged in and in spite of their charms and bug-words are identified by several witnesses including the boy who 44 saw them all in the barne together, and many more, at their feast and witchery.”

The play was evidently produced just after the Lancaster Assizes, whilst four of the accused were in the Fleet prison, London, for further examination, and the King’s pardon had not as yet been pronounced. This is evident from the Epilogue, which commences :

Now while the witches must expect their due,

By lawful! justice, w r e appeale to you For favourable censure ; what their crime May bring upon ’em ripens yet of time Has not reveal’d. Perhaps great mercy may,

After just condemnation, give them day Of longer*life.


296 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

It will be convenient to consider in this connexion a drama largely founded upon Heywood and Brome, and produced nearly half a century later at the Duke’s House, Dorset Garden, Shad well’s The Lancashire Witches and Teague o Divelly , the Irish Priest , which was first seen in the autumn of 1681 (probably in September). The idea of using magic in a play was obviously suggested to Shadwell by his idolized Ben Jonson’s Masque of Queens , performed at Whitehall, 2 February, 1609. In close imitation of his model Shadwell has further appended copious notes to Acts one, two, three, and five, giving his references for the details of his enchant¬ ments. In the Preface (4to, 1682) he naively confesses : c< por the magical part I had no hopes of equalling Shakespear in fancy, who created his witchcraft for the most part out of his own imagination (in which faculty no man ever excell’d him), and therefore I resolved to take mine from authority. And to that end there is not one action in the Play, nay, scarce a word concerning it, but is borrowed from some antient, or modern witchmonger. Which you will find in the notes, wherein I have presented you a great part of the doctrine of witchcraft, believe it who will.” And he has indeed copious citations from Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Pro¬ pertius, Juvenal, Tibullus, Seneca, Tacitus, Lucan, Petronius, Pliny, Apuleius, Aristotle, Theocritus, Lucian, Theophrastus ; S. Augustine, S. Thomas Aquinas ; Baplista Porta ; Ben Jonson (The Sad Shepherd); from the Malleus Maleficarum of James Sprenger, O.P., and Henry Institor (Heinrich Kramer), written circa 1485-89, from Jean Bodin’s (1520-96) La Demonomanie des Sorders , 1580; the Dmmonolatria , 1595, of Nicolas Remy ; Disquisitionum Magicarum lihri six of Martin Delrio, S.J. (1551-1608); Ilistoria Rerum Scoiicarum , Paris, 1527, of Hector Boecc (1465-1586); Formicarius , 5 vols., Douai, 1602, of John Nidcr, O.P. (1880-1488); De Prcestigiis Dcemonmn, 1568, by the celebrated John Weyer, physician to the Duke of Cleves; De Gentibus Scptcnlriona- K6w, 13 Rome, 1555, by Olaus Magnus, the famous Archbishop of Upsala; Discoverie of Witchcraft , 1584, by Reginald Scot; Dcemonomagia , by Philip Ludwig Elich, 1607 ; De Strigimagis , by Sylvester Mazzolini, O.P. (1460-1528), Master of the Sacred Palace and champion of the Holy See against the hcresiarch Luther; Compendium Maleficarum (Milan,


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 297


1608), by Francesco Maria Guazzo of the Congregation of S. Ambrose; Dispuiatio de Magis (Frankfort, 1584), by Johan Georg Godelmann ; Tractaius de Strigiis ei Lamiis of Bartolommeo Spina, O.P.; the Decretwn (about 1020) of Burchard, Bishop of Worms ; the De Sortilcgiis (Lyons, 1538) of Paolo Grilland ; the De Occulta Philosophia (Antwerp, 1581) of Cornelius Agrippa ; the Apologie pour tons les Grands Homines qui ont este faussement supconnez de Magie (1625) of Gabriel Naude, librarian to Cardinal Mazarin ; De Subtilitate (libri XXI, Nuremberg, 1550) of Girolamo Cardano, the famous physician and astrologer; De rnagna el occulta Philosophia of Paracelsus ; IIII Livres des Spectres (Angers, 1586) by Pierre le Loyer, Sieur de Brosse, of which Shadwell used the English version (1605) A treatise of Specters . . . translated by Z. Jones.

It will be seen that no less than forty-one authors, authori¬ ties on magic, are quoted by Shadwell in these notes, whilst not infrequently the same author is cited again and again, and extracts of some length, not merely general references, are given.

But for all this parade of learning, perchance because of all this parade of learning, ShadwelPs witch scenes are intolerably clumsy, they are gross without being terrible, Shadwell was a clever dramatist, he was able to draw a character, especially a crank, with quite remarkable vigour, and his scenes are a triumph of photographic realism. True, he could not discriminate and select; he threw his world en masse higgledy piggledy on to the stage, and as even in the reign of the Merry Monarch there were a few tedious folk about, so now and again—but not very often—one chances upon heavy passages in ShadwelPs robust comedies. On the other hand The Sullen Lovers , Epsom Wells , The Virtuoso , Bury Fair , The Squire of Alsatia, The Volunteers , in fact all his native plays, are full of bustle and fun, albeit a trifle riotous and rude as the custom was. Dryden, who very well knew what he was about, for purposes of his own cleverly dubbed Shadwell dull. And dull he has been dubbed ever since by those who have not read him. But Shadwell had not a spark of poetry in his whole fat composition. And so his witches become farcical, yet farcical in a grimy unpleasant way, for we are spared none of the loathsome details of the


298 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Sabbat, and should anyone object, why, there is the authority of Remy or Guazzo, the precise passage from Prierias or Burchard to support the author. Indeed we feel that these witches are very real in spite of their materialism. They present a clear picture of one side of the diabolic cult, how¬ ever crude and crass.

Even so, these incantation scenes are not, I venture to think, the worst thing in the play. The obscene caricature of the Catholic priest, Teague o Divelly, is frankly disgusting beyond words. He is represented as ignorant, idle, lecherous, a liar, a coward, a buffoon, too simiously cunning to be a fool, too basely mean to be a villain. It is a filthy piece of work, malignant and harmful prepense. 14

But Shadwell showed scant respect for the Protestants too, since Smerk, Sir Edward Hartfort’s chaplain, is described as “ foolish, knavish, popish, arrogant, insolent ; yet for his interest, slavish. 55

It is hardly a matter for surprise that after the play had been in the actors 5 hands about a fortnight complaints from such high quarters were lodged with Charles Killigrew, the Master of the Revels, that he promptly sent for the script, which at first he seems to have passed carelessly enough, and would only allow the rehearsals to proceed on condition that a quantity of scurrilous matter was expunged. Even so the dialogue is sufficiently offensive and profane. There was some¬ thing like a riot in the theatre at the first performance, and the play was as heartily hissed as it deserved. Yet it managed to make a stand : those were the days of the Third Ex¬ clusion Bill and rank disloyalty, but the tide was on the turn, a rebel Parliament had been dissolved on the 28th March, on the 81st of August Stephen College, a perjured fanatic doubly dyed in treason and every conceivable rascality, had met his just reward on the gallows, whilst the atrocious Shaftesbury himself was to be smartly laid by the heels in the November following. That part of the dialogue which was not allowed to be spoken on the stage Shadwell has printed in italic letter, 15 and so we plainly sec that the censor was amply justified in his demands. The politico! satire is of the muddiest; the railing against the Church is lewd and rancorous.

Such success as The Lancashire Witches had in the theatre—


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 299


and It was not infrequently revived—was wholly clue to the mechanist and the scenic effects, the “ flyings 55 of the witches, and the music, this last so prominent a feature that Downes does not hesitate to call it “ a kind of Opera.”

In ShadwelPs Sabbat scenes the Devil himself appears, once in the form of a Buck Goat and cnee in human shape, whilst his satellites adore him with disgusting ceremonies. The witches are Mother Demdike, Mother Dickenson, Mother Hargrave, Mai Spencer, Madge, and others unnamed.

Elizabeth Demdike and Jennet Hargreaves belonged to the first Lancashire witch-trials, the prosecutions of 1012 ; Frances Dickenson and Mai Spencer were involved in the Robinson disclosures of 1038 ; so it is obvious that ShadwelJ has intermingled the two incidents. In his play wc have a coursing scene where the hare suddenly changes to Mother Demdike ; the witches raise a storm and carouse in Sir Edward’s cellar something after the fashion of Madge Gray, Goody Price, and Goody Jones in The Ingoldshy Legends ; Mai Spencer bridles Clod, a country yokel, and rides him to a witches 5 festival, where Madge is admitted to the infernal sisterhood ; the witches in the guise of eats beset a number of persons with horrible scratchings and miauling, Tom Shaoklehead strikes off a grimalkin’s paw and Mother Hargreave’s hand is found to be missing : “ the cutting off the hand Is an old story,” says Shadwell in liis notes. It will be seen that the later dramatist took many of his incidents from Heywood and Uromc, although it Is only fair to add that he has also largely drawn from original sources.

Shortly after the Restoration was published a play dealing with one of the most famous of English sibyls, The Life of Mother Shipton . “ A New Comedy, As It was Acted Nine¬ teen dayes together with great Applause. . , . Written by Tfhomas] Tfhomson],” Among the Dramatis Personae appear Pluto, the King of Hell, with Proserpina, his Queen; Radamon, A chief Spirit; Four other Devils. The scene is “The City of York, or Maseborough Grove in Yorkshire.” It is a rough piece of work, largely patched together from Middleton’s A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and Massinger’s The City Madam , whilst the episodes in which Mother Shipton is concerned would seem to be founded on one of the many old chap-books that relate her marvellous adventures and


300 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


prophetic skill. Agatha Ship ton (her name is usually given as Ursula) is complaining of her hard lot when she encounters Radamon, a demon who holds high rank in the court of Dis. He arranges to meet her later, and returns to his own place to boast of his success. He reappears to her dressed as a wealthy nobleman ; he marries her ; and for a while she is seen in great affluence and state. At the commencement of Act III she finds herself in her poor cottage again. As she laments Radamon enters, he informs her who he really is, and bestows upon her magical powers. Her fame spreads far and wide, and as popular story tells, the abbot of Beverley in disguise visits her to make trial of her art. She at once recognizes him, and foretells to his great chagrin the sup¬ pression of the monasteries with other events. In the end Mother Shipton outwits and discomforts the devils who attempt to seize her, she is vouchsafed a heavenly vision, and turns to penitence and prayer. The whole thing is a crude enough commixture, of more curiosity than value.

There are some well-written episodes in Nevil Payne’s powerful tragedy The Fatal Jealousie , 16 produced at Dorset Garden early in August, 1672. Among the characters we have Witch, Aunt of Jasper, the villain of the piece. Jasper, who is servant to Antonio, applies to his aunt to help him in his malignant schemes. At first he believes she is a genuine sorceress, but she disabuses him and frankly acknowledges :

I can raise no Devils,

Yet I Confederate with Rogues and Taylors,

Things that can shape themselves like Elves,

And Goblins-

Her imps Ranter and Szvash, Dive , Fop, Snap , Gilt, and Pick¬ lock, are slim lads in masquing habits, trained to trickery. None the less they manage an incantation scene to deceive Antonio and persuade him that his wife, Caelia, is false. An u Antick Dance of Devils ” which follows is interrupted by the forcible entry of the Watch. The Aunt shows Jasper a secret hiding-place, whereupon he murders her and conceals the body in the hole. He pretends that she was in truth a witch and has vanished by magic. The Captain of the Watch, however, had detected her charlatanry long before, and presently a demon’s vizor and a domino arc found on the premises.


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 301


Later a little boy, who is caught in his devil’s attire, confesses the impostures, and trembling adds that in one of their secret chambers they have discovered their mistress’s corpse stabbed to death. Finally Jasper is unmasked, and only escapes condign punishment by his dagger. The character of the Witch is not unlike that of Hey wood’s Wise Woman of Hogs don, although in The Fatal Jealousie the events take a tragic and bloody turn. Smith acted Antonio; Mrs. Shadwell, Caelia; Mrs. Norris, the Witch; and Sandford was famous in the role of Jasper.

There are incantation scenes in Dry den’s tragedies, but these hardly come within our survey, as the magicians are treated romantically, one might even say deeoratively, and certainly here no touch of realism is sought or intended. We have the famous episode in The Indian-Queen (produced at the Theatre Royal in January, 1603-4), when Zempoaila seeks Ismeron the prophet who raises the God of Dreams to prophesy her destiny ; 17 in the fourth act of Tyranmck Love (Theatre Royal, June, 1669), the scene is an Indian cave, where at the instigation of Rlacidius the magician Nigriims raises a vision of the sleeping S. Catharine, various astral spirits appear only to fly before the descent of Amariel, the Saint’s Guardian-An gel; in CEdipus, by Dry den and Lee (Dorset Garden, December, 1678), Teresias plays a consider¬ able part, and Act III is mainly concerned with a necromantic spell that raises the ghost of Laius in the depths of a hallowed grove. In The Duke of Guise , moreover (Theatre Royal, December, 1682), there is something of real horror in the figures of Malicome and his familiar Melanax, and the scene 18 when the miserable wizard, whose bond is forfeit, is carried shrieking to endless bale, cannot be read without a shudder even after the last moments of Marlowe’s Faustus. Act IV of Lee’s Sophonisba (Theatre Royal, April, 1075) commences with the temple of Bellona, whose priestesses are shown at their dread rites, Gumana is inspired by the divinity, she raves in fury of obsession, there is a dance of spirits, and various visions arc evoked.

In Otway’s curious rehandling of Romeo and Juliet which he Latinized as The History and Fall of Caim Marius produced at Dorset Garden in the autumn of 1679, the Syrian witch Martha only appears for a moment to prophesy good



302 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

fortune to Marins and to introduce a dance of spirits by the waving of her wand.

Charles Davenant’s operatic Circe (Dorset Garden, March, 1676-7) is an amazing distortion of mythological story. There are songs without number, a dance of magicians, storms, dreams, an apparition of Pluto in a Chariot drawn by Black Horses, but all these are very much of the stage, stagey, born of candle-light and violins, hardly to be endured in cold print. Ragusa, the Sorceress in Tate’s Brutus of Alba : or the Enchanted Lovers (Dorset Garden, May, 1678) is a far more formidable figure. Tate has managed his magic not without skill, and the conclusion of Act III, an incantation, was deservedly praised by Lamb. Curiously enough the plot of Brutus of Alba is the story of Dido and Aeneas, Vergil’s names being altered “ rather than be guilty of a breach of Modesty,” Tate says. But Tate supplied Henry Purcell with the libretto for his opera Dido and Aeneas , wherein also witches appear. It must not be forgotten that Macbeth was immensely popular throughout the whole of the Restoration period, when, as has been noted above, the witch scenes were elaborated and presented with every resource of scenery, mechanism, dance, song, and meretricious ornament. Revival followed revival, each more decorative than the last, and the theatre was unceasingly thronged. Duffett undertook to burlesque this fashion, which he did in an extraordinary Epilogue to his skit The Empress of Morocco , produced at the Theatre Royal in the spring of 1674, but for all his japeries Macbeth never waned in public favour.

Spirits in abundance appear in the Earl of Orrery’s unpublished tragedy Zoroastresf 9 the principal character being described as “ King of Persia, the first Magician.” He is attended by 66 several spirits in black with ghastly vizards,” and at the end furies and demons arise shaking dark torches at the monarch whom they pull down to hell, the sky raining fire upon them. It was almost certainly never acted, and is the wildest type of transpontine melodrama.

Edward Ravenscroft’s u recantation play ” Dame Dobson , or, The Cunning Woman (produced at Dorset Garden in the early autumn of 1683) is an English version of La Devineresse ; ou les faux Enchantements (sometimes known as Madame Jobin ), a capital comedy by Thomas Corneille and Jean


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 308

Donneau de Vise. This French original had been produced in 1679, and both the stage-craft and the adroit way m which the various tricks and conjurations arc managed must be allowed to be consummately clever. An English comedy on a similar theme is The Wise Woman of Hogs don, the intricacies of which are a triumph of technique. La Devin - eresse was published m 1680 with a frontispiece picturing a grimalkin, a hand of glory, noxious weeds, two blazing torches and other objects beloved of necromancy. There are, moreover, eight folding plates which embellish the little book, and these have no small interest as they depict scenes in the comedy. But Dame Dobson cannot be accounted a play of witchcraft; it is no more than an amusing study of dextrous charlatanry. The protagonist herself 20 is of that immortal sisterhood graced by Hey wood’s sibyl, of whom it is said Cw She is a cunning woman, neither hath she her name for nothing, who out of her ignorance can fool so many that think themselves wise.”

Mrs. Behn, m her amusing comedy The Lackey Chance ; or, An Alderman's Bargain , produced at Drury Lane in the late winter of 1686, 4to, 1687, has made some play with pretended magic in the capital scenes where Gay man (Betterton) is secretly brought by the prentice Bredwel (Bowman), disguised as a devil, to the house of Lady Fnlbank (Mrs. Barry). Here he is received by Pert, the maid, who is dressed as an old witch, and conducted to his inamorata’s embraces. But the whole episode is somewhat farcically treated, and it is, of course, an elaborate masquerade for the sake of an intrigue . 21

Shadwell in 1681 took Witchcraft seriously, and notwith¬ standing the half-hearted disclaimer in his address “ To the Reader ” that prefaces The Lancashire Witches I think he was sensible enough to recognize the truth which lies at the core of the matter in spite of the grotesqueness of the formulae and spells doting hags and warlocks are wont to employ. Witchcraft was still a capital offence when some fifteen years later Congreve lightly laughed it out of court. Foresight (Love for Love), u an illiterate old Fellow, peevish and positive, superstitious, and pretending to understand Astrology, Palmistry, Phisiognomy, Omens, Dreams, etc.,” is in close confabulation with his young daughter’s Nurse, when


304 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Angelica his niece trips in to ask the loan of his coach, her own being out of order. He says no, and presses her to remain at home, muttering to himself some old doggerel which bodes no good to the house if all the womenfolk are gadding abroad. The lady fleers him, twits him with jealousy of his young wife : cc Uncle, Fm afraid you arc not Lord of the Ascendant, ha ! ha 1 ha ! 35 He is obstinate in his refusal; and she retorts : “ I can make Oath of your

unlawful Midnight Practices ; you and the Old Nurse there. ... I saw you together, through the Key-hole of the Closet, one Night, like Saul and the Witch of Endor , turning the Sieve and Sheers, and pricking your Thumbs to write poor innocent Servants 5 Names in Blood about a httle Nutmeg- Grater, which she had forgot in the Caudle-Cup. 33 cc Hussy, Cockatrice, 33 storms the old fellow beside himself with rage. Angelica mocks him even more bitterly, accuses him and the Nurse of nourishing a familiar, “ a young Devil in the shape of a Tabby-Cat, 33 and with a few last thrusts she departs, trilling with merriment, in a sedan-chair.

To return for a brief space to an earlier generation, when it would have hardly been possible, or at least highly in¬ advisable, to treat Witchcraft in this blithesome mood, of two plays that would almost certainly have been of great interest in this connexion we have only the names, The Witch of Islington , acted in 1597, and The Witch Traveller , licensed in 1628.

In addition to The Masque of Queens , which as lias already been noted, served to some extent for a model to Shadwell when inditing his encyclopaedic notes on magic, Ben Jonson in that sweet pastoral The Sad Shepherd introduces a Scotch witch. Maudlin. The character is drawn with vigorous strokes ; realism mingles with romance.

During the quarrel scene which opens The Alchemist Face threatens Subtle :

I’ll bring thee, rogue, within The statute of sorcerie, tricesimo tertio Of Harry the Eight.

Dapper the gull asks Subtle for a familiar, as Face ex¬ plains (I, 2) :

Why, he Jo’s aske one but for cups, and horses,

A rifling Ilye ; none o’ your great familiars.


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 805

And later in order to trick Mm thoroughly Dol Common appears as the “ Queene of Faerie. 5 ’ The Queen of Elphin or Elfhame, who is particularly mentioned in the Scotch witch-trials, seems to be identical with the French Heine du Sabbat. In 1670 Jean Weir confessed: “That when she keeped a school at Dalkeith, and teachcd diddering, ane tall woman came to the declarant’s lions when the diddering were there ; and that she had, as appeared to her, ane eh} Id upon her back, and one or two at her foot; and that the said woman disyred that the declarant should imploy her to spick for her to the Queen of Farie, and sirik and bailie in her behalf with the said Queen, (which was her own -words).” 22

Beaumont and Fletcher afford us but few instances ol witchcraft in the many dramas that conveniently go under their names. We have, it is true, a she-devil, Lueifera, in The Prophetess , but the incident is little better than clown¬ ing. Delphia herself is a severely classical pythoness far removed from the Sawyers, Denxlikes, and Diekensons Sulpitia, in The Custom of the Comity dons a conjurer’s robe and at Hippolita’s bidding blasts Zonocia almost to death by her spells, but yet she is more bawd than witch. Peter Vecchio in The Chances , “a reputed wizard,” is as sharp and cozening a practitioner as Forobosco, the mountebank, a petty pilferer, who is exposed and sent to the galleys at the end of The Fair Maid of the Inn; or Shirley’s Doctor Sharldno 23 whom silly serving-men consult about the loss of silver spoons and napkins; or Tomkis’s Albumazar; nay, Jonson’s Subtle himself. 24

In Mars ton’s Sophonisha (4 to, 1 GOO) appears Erie! ho, borrowed from Lucan. The Friar in Chapman’s Massy d’Ambois (4to, 1607) puts on a magician’s habit, and after a sonorous Latin invocation raises the spirits Behemoth and Cartophylax in the presence of Bussy and Tanryra.

A far more interesting drama than these is Shirley’s

Patrick for Ireland , acted in Dublin, l«89-40, which has as its theme the conversion of Ireland by S. Patrick and the opposition of the Druids under their leader Areliimagus. The character of S. Patrick moves throughout with a quiet spiritual dignity that has true beauty, and the magicians in their baffled potency for evil are only less effective. This drama is a work of Stirling merit, to winch I would unhesita* x


306 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

tingly assign a very high place in Shirley’s theatre. We are shown the various attempts upon S. Patrick’s life : poison is administered in a cup of wine, the Saint drinks and remains unharmed ; Milcho, a great officer, "whose servant S. Patrick once was, locks him and his friends in a house and fires it. The Christians pass out unscathed through the flames which devour the incendiary. In the last scene whilst S. Patrick sleeps Archimagus summons a vast number of hideous serpents to devour him, but the Apostle of Ireland wakes, and expels for ever all venomous reptiles from his isle, whereon the earth gapes and swallows the warlock alive. Particularly impressive is the arrival of S. Patrick, when as the King and his two sons, his druids and nobles, arc gathered in anxious consultation at the gates of their temple 4 , they see passing in solemn procession through the woods a fair company with gleaming crosses, silken banners, bright tapers and incense, what time the sweet music of a hymn strikes upon the car :

Post maris sreui fremitus Icnne

(Nauitas coelo fcremulas beante)

Uidimus gratum iubar enatantes Littus inaurans.

(Now that we have crossed the fierce waves of ocean to Ireland’s coast, and Heaven has blessed its poor fearful wanderers, wending our way along with joy do wc sec a sunbeam of light gilding these shores.)

As Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus has already been treated in this connexion it may not be altogether impertinent very briefly to consider some three or four other Elizabethan plays in which the Devil appears among the Dramatis Personae, even if he act no very prominent part. These for the most part fluctuate between the scmi-scrious and merest buffoonery. Thus the prologue of The Merry Devil of Edmonton (4to, 1608), in which the enchanter Peter Fab ell tricks the demon who has come to demand the fulfilment of his contract, is at the opening managed with due decorum, but it soon adopts a lighter, and even trivial, vein. William Rowley’s The Birth of Merlin , or The Childe hath found his Father (not printed until 1662) is a curious medley of farce and romance, informed with a certain awkward vigour and not wholly destitute of poetry, Dckkcr’s If it be not good , the Divel is


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 807

in it (4to, 1612), which may be traced to the old prose History of Friar Rush , depicts the exploits of three lesser fiends who arc dispatched to spread their master’s kingdom in Naples. It is an unequal play, the satire of which falls very flat, since it is obvious that the poet w r as not sincere in Ins extravagant theme. 25

Ben Jenson’s The Devil is an Ass , acted in 1616, is w r holly comic. Pug, cc the less devil,” who visits the earth, and engages himself as servant to a Norfolk squire, Fabian Fitzdottrel, is hopelessly outwitted on every occasion by the cunning of mere mortals. Eventually he finds himself lodged in New r gate, and in imminent danger of the gallows were he not rescued by the Vice, Iniquity, by whom he is carried off rejoicing to the nether regions. Ills fate may be compared with that of Rod on go in Wilson’s excellent eomedy Belphegor: or, The Man iage of the Devil (produced at, Dorset Garden in the summer of 1690), who with his lavo attendant, devils flies back to his native bell to escape the w r oes of earth.

In The Devil's Charter , lunvever, by Barnaby Barnes (1007), w r e have what is undoubtedly a perfectly serious tragedy, which if not exactly modelled upon, a,l least owes many hints to Marlowe’s Faust us. It is flamboyant melodrama and wildly unhistorical throughout, a very tophet of infernal horror. The chief character is a loathsome caricature of Pope Alexander VI, 26 and, as w r e might expect, all the lies and libels of Renaissance satirists and Protestant pam¬ phleteers are heaped together to portray an impossible monster of lust and crime. The filthiest scandals of Burehard, Sanudo, Giustiniani, Filippo Nerli, Guicciardini, Paolo Giovio, Sannazzaro and the Neapolitans, have been employed with one might almost say a scrupulous conscientiousness. The black art, in particular, occupies a very prominent place in these lurid scenes. Alexander has signed a bond with a demon Astaroth, and it is to this eon tract, that all his success is ascribed. In Act IV there is a, long incantation when the Pope puts on his magical robes, lakes his rod and pentaele, and standing within the circle he has traced conjures in strange terms, commencing a Latin exorcism which tails off into mere gibberish. Various devils appear, and he Is shown a vision of Gandials murder by Cmsar, 27 with other atrocities. At the climax of the piece we have the banquet with Cardinal


308 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT

Adrian of Corneto, and whilst the guests talk “ The Devill corameth and ehangeth the Popes bottles.” The Borgias arc poisoned, and in a far too protracted “ Seen a Ultima ” Alexander discourses and disputes frantically with the demons who appear to mock and torment him. There is the old device of an ambiguous contract; presently a 66 Devil like a Poast 55 enters winding a horn to summon the unhappy wretch, who raves and shrieks out meaningless ejaculations as he is dragged away amid thunder and lightning. This sort of thing pandered to the most brutalized appetites of the groundlings, and The Devil's Charier may be summed up as a disgusting burlesque not without its quota of vile stuff that is so repulsive as to be physically sickening.

Upon a careful consideration of those seventeenth-century plays which have Witchcraft as their main theme, and leaving on one side, for our purpose, the essentially romantic treat¬ ment of the subject, however realistic some details of the picture may be, it is, I think, beyond dispute that The Witch of Edmonton in the figure of Mother Sawyer offers us the best contemporary illustration of the Elizabethan witch. The drama itself is one of no ordinary merit and power, whilst the understanding and restraint which set the play apart from its fellows also raises it to the level of genuine tragedy. It should be noticed that we see a witch, so to speak, in the process of making. Mother Sawyer is in truth the victim of the prejudices of the village binds and ignorant yokels. When she first appears it is merely as a poor old crone driven to desperation by her brutal neighbours ; the farmers declare she is a witch, and at length persecution makes her one. She is malignant and evil enough once the compact with the demon has been confirmed ; she longs from the first to be revenged upon her enemies and mutters to herself “ by what art May the thing called Familiar be purchased ? ” But, in one sense, she is urged and hounded to her destiny, and the authors, although never doubting her compact with the powers of darkness, her vile and poisonous life, show a detached but very real sympathy for her. It is this touch of humanity, the pathos and pity of the poor old hag, repulsive, wicked, and baleful as she may be, which must place The Witch of Edmonton in my opinion among the greatest and most moving of all Elizabethan plays.


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 309


It is no pleasant task to turn now to the theatre of the eighteenth century in this connexion. The witch became degraded ; she was comic, burlesqued, buffooned ; a mere property for a Christmas pantomime : Harlequin Mother Bunch , Mother Goose , Harlequin Dame Trot, Charles Bibdin’s The Lancashire Witches , or The Distresses of Haile quin 28 whose tinsel, music, and mummery drew all the macaronis and cyprians in London to the Circus during the winter of 1782-3.

Some subtle premonition of the great success of Harrison Ainsworth’s powerful story The Lancashire Witches —for this and the macabre Rookwood are probably the best of the work of a talented writer now unduly depreciated and decried— seems to have suggested to the prolific Edward Fitzbali his “ Legendary Drama in Three Acts/ 5 The Lancashire Witches, A Romance of Pendle Forest , produced at the Adelplu Theatre, 8 January, 1848. It was quick work, for it was only a month before, 8 December, 1847, that Ainsworth, writing to his friend Crossley of Manchester, stales that he has accepted the liberal offer of the Sunday Times —£1000 and the copy¬ right to revert to the author on the completion of the work — that his new romance The Lancashire Witches should make its appearance as a serial in the paper. He had already sketched out the plan, and he must have given Fitzball an idea of this, or at least have allowed the dramatist the use of some few rough notes, for although the play and the novel have little, one might say nothing essential, in common, the chief character in the theatre, Bess of the Woods, 46 140 years old, formerly Abbess of S. Magdalen’s, doomed for her crimes to an unearthly age,” is none other than the anchoress Isolde de Hcton. 29 The fourth scene of the second act presents the ruins of Whalley Abbey by moonlight. During an incantation the picture gradually changes ; the broken arches form themselves into perfect masonry; the ivy disappears from the windows to show the ruby and gold of coloured glass ; the decaying altar glitters with piled plate and the gleam of myriad tapers. A choir of nuns rises from the grave to dance with spectral gallants. Among the votaries are Nutter, Demdike, and Chattox fiC Three Weird Sisters, doomed for their frailties to become Witches.” But they utter no word, and have no part save this in the action.


310 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


This scene must have proved extraordinarily effective upon the stage. It owes much to the haunted convent in Meyer¬ beer’s Robert le Diable , produced at the Acadcmie Royalc in November, 1881, and given in a piratical form both at Drury Lane and Covent Garden within a few weeks. Nor is it comparable to its original. In FitzbalFs melodrama O. Smith appeared as Gipsy Dalian, a new character ; and Miss Faucit (Mrs. Bland) as Bess of the Woods. The play, for what it is, a luridly theatrical and Surrey-side sensation, has merit; but to speak of it in the same breath as Middleton or even as Barnes would be absurd.

Shelley’s genius has with wondrous beauty translated for us scenes from Calderon’s El Magico Prodigioso , one of the loveliest songs of the Spanish nightingale. On another plane, admittedly, but yet, I think, far from lacking a simple comeliness of its own and surely not without most poignant pathos, is Longfellow’s New England Tragedy Giles Corey of the Salem Farms , 30 The honest sincerity of Cotton Mather, the bluff irascible heartiness of Corey himself, the inopportune scepticism of his wife—which to many would seem sound common sense—the hysteria of Mary Waleot, the villainy of John Gloyd, all these are sketched with extraordinary power, a few quiet telling touches which make each character, individual, alert, alive.

In the French theatre we have an early fourteenth-century Miracle de Nostre Dame de Robert le Dyable , and in 1505 was acted Le mystere du Chevalier qui donna sa femme au Diable , k dix personnages. As one might well expect during the long classical period of the drama Witchcraft could have found no place in the scenes of the French dramatists. It would have been altogether too wild, too monstrous a fantasy. And so it is not until the 24 Unreal, An XIII (11 June, 1805) that a play which interweaves sorcery as its theme is seen at the Theatre framjais, when Les Templicrs of Ilaynouard was given there. A few years later Le Vampire, a thrilling melodrama by Charles Nodicr and Carmouche, produced on 18 August, 1820, was to draw all idle Paris to the Porte- Saint-Martin. In 1821 two facile writers quick to gauge the public appetite, Frederic Dupetit-Misrd and Victor Ducagne, found some favour with La Sorciere , ou VOrphelin icossais. Alexandre Dumas, and one of his many ghosts Auguste


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 811


Maquet, collaborated (if one may use the term) in a grandiose fiye-act drama Urbain Grandier , 1850. La S or tier e Canidie , a one-act play by Aurelicn Vivic, produced at Bordeaux in 1888 is of little account. La Reine de VEsprit (1891) of Maurice Pottecher is founded to some extent on the Comte de Gabalis , whilst the same author’s three-aet Chacun chcrche son Tresor , cc histoire dcs sorcicrs ” (1899) was not a little helped by the music of Lueien Michelet. There are many excuses for passing over with a mere mention Les Noces de Saihan (1892), a “drama csoterique,’’ by Jules Bois, and Les Basques ou la Sorciere d'Espelctte, a lyric drama in three acts by Loquin and Megret de Bclligny, produced at Bordeaux in 1892, has an interest which is almost purely local. Alphonse Tavan’s Les Biases (sorcicrs), a legendary drama of five acts of alternating prose and verse seen in 1897 was helped out by every theatrical resource, a ballet, chorus, mechanical effects, and confident advertisement. Serge Basset’s Vers le Sabbat “ evocation dc soreellerie en un acte ” which appeared in the same year need not be seriously considered. Nor does an elaborate episode “ Le Sabbat et la Herse Infernale,” wherein Mons. Benglia appeared as Satan, that was seen in the Folios Berger o revue, Un Soir de Folie , 1925-6, call for more than the briefest passing mention.

In more recent days Victor Sardou’s La Sorciere is a violent, but effective, melodrama. Produced at the Theatre Sarah~Bernhardt, 15 December, 1908, with De Max as Cardinal Ximencs and Sarah Bernhardt as the moresque Zoraya, it obtained a not undeserved success* The locale of the tragedy is Toledo, anno domini 1506 ; Act IV, the Inquisition scene; and Act V, the square before the Cathedral with the grim pyre ready for the torch, were—owing to the genius of a great actress—truly harrowing. Of course it is very flamboyant, very unbalanced, very unhistorical, but in its gaudy theatrical way—all the old tricks arc there— La Sorciere had an exciting thrill for those who were content to be unsophisticated awhile.

John Masefield’s adaptation from the Norwegian of Wiers- Jennsen, The Witch, Z1 a drama in four acts, is a very different thing. Here we have psychology comparable to that of Dekker and Ford. Nor will the performances of Miss Janet


312 THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT


Achurch as Merete Beyer and Miss Lillali McCarthy as Ann Pedersdottcr easily "he forgotten. As a picture of the horn of Witchcraft in cold Scandinavia, the gloom and deprcssio of formidable fanaticism engendered by Lutheran dogrn and discipline with the shadow of destiny lowering implacabl over all, this is probably the finest piece of work dealing b domestic fashion with the warlock and the sorceress tha has been seen on the English stage since the reign of wis< King James three hundred years ago.

NOTES TO CHAPTER YII

1 Tho Floralia , tho most wanton of Roman festivals, coramoneocl on the

fourth day before the Kalends of May, and during those celebrations the spectators insisted that tho mimee should play naked, “ agobantur [Floralia a raeretricibus uoste oxutis omm cum uorborurn hcontia, motuumquc obscsomtate,” says the old commentator on Martial I, 1. “ Lasciui Floralia

laota tlieatri ” Ausomus names them, De JPcrnv liotnams , 25. Lactantms, JJc XnsMutionibus Dtuims, I, 20, writes : “ Celobrantur ergo ill! ludi cum onmi lasenua, eonuementes memoriae moretricis. Nam praeter uerborum liceutiam, qmbus obscaemtas omriis effunditur; oxuuntur etiam uestibus populo flagitante meretnees ; quaj tunc mimorum fimguntur officio j ot in conspoctu populi usque ad satietatem impudicorum lununum cum pudendis motibus detinontur ” Both S. Augustine and Amobius reprehend tho lowdness of these naked dances. At Sens during the Feast of Fools, when every licence prevailed, men were led in procession nud%. Warton (History of Enghsh Poetry , by T. Warton, edited by W. C. Hazlitt, 4 vols„ 1871), II, 223, states that in the Mystery Plays “ Adam and Eve are both exhibited on tho stage naked, and conversing about their nakedness ; this very portinently intro¬ duces the next scone, in which they have coverings of fig-leaves.” In a stage- direction of the Chester Plays wo find : “ Statim nudi sunt . . . Tunc Adam ©t Eua coopenant genitalia sua cum foil is.” Chambers, The Mediaeval Stage, II, 143, doubts whether tho players were actually nude, and suggests a suit of white leather. Warton, however, is probably right.

2 Phales was an early deity, very similar to Priapus, and closely associated with the Bacchic mysteries. For tho refrain see The Acharmans, 263-265.

8 Sec Gallo Fs series of char actor-otchmgs, I Bath di Sfrsscmio.

4 Not to bo confused with tho printer Fust, as was at ono time frequently supposed

5 In Marlowe’s play Faust welcomes “Gorman Valdes and Cornelius.” Who Valdes is has not been, satisfactorily explained. The suggestion of Dr. Havolock Ellis that Paracelsus seems intended is no doubt correct.

8 Translated from the Middle Dutch by Harry Morgan Ayres, with an Introduction by Adnaan J. Barnouw. The Dutch Library, The Hague: Martmus Nijhoff. 1924.

7 The Internati onal Theatro Society gave a private subscription per¬ formance of Mary of Nimmegen at Masked yn o ’b Theatro on Sunday, 22 February, 1925. But such a play, presenting crowded scenes of burgher life, tho streets, the market-place, to bo effective demands a largo stage and costly production.

8 Moroo is the hag saga et diuma ” in Apuleiun, Metamorphoseon, I.

9 Macbeth was tinkered at almost from tho first. Upon the revival of the play immediately aft or the Restoration the witch scones were given great theatrical prominence. 7 January, 1667, Popys declared himself highly delighted witli the u divortissomont, though it be a deep tragedy.”

10 The Witch of Edmonton was revived under my direction for two par- ormancss at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, 24 and 26 April, 1921.


WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 313

Sybil Thorndike played the Witch, Russell Thorndike, the Familiar; Ion Swmley, Frank Thorney; Edith Evans, Ann Ratchfio, and Frank Coclnane, Cuddy Banks.

11 4to 1634 . Stationers ’ Register, 28 October.

12 In a famous Scotch trial for witchciaft, 1661, Jonet Watson of Dalkeith confessed “ that the Doivill apeirod vnto her m tho hkncs of ane prettio boy, m giem clothes ”

13 Liber 111. De Mag is et Maleficis Pmnoium.

14 Tegue o’ Divelly was acted by Antony Leigh, tho most famous comedian of his day, and an intimate fnond of Shaclwelh

15 Curiously enough Halliwell m The Poetry oj Witchciaft, a private reprint of Hey wood and Shadwell’s plays, 80 copies only, 1853, has not reproduced the italic letter but gives all tho dialogue in roman to tho great detriment of this edition.

1<l Licensed for printing 2 November, 1672, and published quarto with date 1673.

17 At a later revival Ismoion’s recitative “ Yo twice ten hundred Deities ” was set by Purcell.

18 Dryden’s. He wrote tho first scene of the first act, the whole of the fourth act, rather moro than one-half of act five, and Loo is responsible for the rest of the tragedy.

10 For a full analysis and critical examination of Zoroastrcs see my article in tho Modern Language Review, XII, Jan., 1917. * « 

20 The title-role Dame Dobson was played by Mis. Corey, a mistress of broad comedy, who was much admired for‘her humour by Bamuel Pcvpys.

21 Mrs. Bohn owes a hint to Shirley’a The Lady of Pleasure, licensed by Sir Henry Herbert, 15 October, 1035 ; 4to. 1637. ft must, bo confessed that she has managed hor scenos with moro wit and spn it than the older dramatist, whose charming verso is porhaps too seriously poetical for tho actual situation.

23 George Sinelar, Satan's Invisible World Discovered, 1685. Reprint, Edinburgh, 1871. Supplement, T, p xii,

23 The Maid's Revenge , acted 1026, printed 1639.

24 Compare Mopus m Wilson’s The Cheats (acted in 1662); Stargaze in The City Madam ; Rusoo, Norbiott, and their accomplices in Hollo ; faeeholmo in Ariosto’s II Negromante ; and a score beside.

25 Sir Adolphus Ward, English Dramatic Literature , 1809, II, 4 65, says that Langbaine wrongly supposed the source of this play to bo “ MachiavellFa celebrated Novella on tho marriage of Bolphogor.” But this is hardly correct. Langbaine wrote : “ The beginning of his Play seems to bo writ m imitation of Matchiavel's Novol of Belphcgor . whore Pluto summons tho Devils to Gouncel ”

  • « For a fitting account of Alexander Vt see he Pape A l c rand re VI ct lea

Borgia, Paris, 1870, by Pore Olhvior, o V ; also Loonetti Papa Alessandro VI secondo document e carteggi del tempo, 3 vols , Bologna, 1880 Chronicles oj the House of Borgia, by Frederick, Baron Oorvo, 1901, may be studied with profit. Monsignor de Roo’s Material for a History of Pope Ahwander VI,

5 vols., Bruges, 1924, is of tho greatest value, and completely authoritative.

87 The murderer of tho Duke of Gandia is unknown to history, if not to historians

38 Tho songs only are printed, 8vo, 1783.

2 * Fosbrooko, British Monachism, says that in tho reign of Henry VI one Isolde de Heton petitioned tho King to lot her be admitted as an anchoress m the Abbey of Whalloy. But afterwards she loft tho enclosure and broke hor vows, whereupon the King dissolved tho hermitage.

30 The incidents are historically correct. Boo Cotton Mather’s Wonders of the Invisible World. Corey refusing to plead was pressed to death,

31 Originally produced 10 October, 1910, at the Royalty, Glasgow; in London* 31 January, 1911, at the Court. Revived at the Court, 29 October, 1913, when it ran for a month, and was afterwards included in the subsequent three weeks’ repertory season.



BIBLIOGRAPHY


Tins Bibliography does not aim at anything beyond pre¬ senting a brief and convenient hand-list of some of the more important books upon Witchcraft. It docs not even purport to give all those monographs to which reference is made in the body of this study. A large number of books I have thought it. superfluous to include. Thus I have omitted general works of reference such as the Encyclopaedia Brit arnica, Du Cange’s Glossarium ad scriptores mcdice d infinite latinitalix, Dugdale’s Monasticon ; daily companions such as the Missal, the Breviary, the Bible; Homer, Vergil, Horace, Ovid, Pctronius, Lucan; Shakespeare, Marlowe, Ford, Drydcn, Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy , and English classics; those histories which are on every library shelf, Gibbon, Lingard, Ranke; and such histories as the Cam¬ bridge Modern History.

On the other hand, I have of purpose included various books which may not seem at first sight to have much connexion with Witchcraft, although they are, as a matter of fact, by no means impertinent. In order to appreciate this vast subject in all its bearings, even the desultory or amateur investigator should at least be fairly grounded in theology, philosophy, and psychology. The student must be a capable theologian.

I have devoted some particular attention to the works of the demonologists, now almost universally neglected, but a close study of which is essential to the understanding of occultism and the appreeialion of the grave dangers that may lurk there.

I am only too conscious of the plentiful lacuna; in this Bibliography. However, to attempt anything like a com¬ plete catalogue—if, indeed, it were possible to essay so illimitable a task—would involve the listing of very many thousands of books, and would itself require no inconsider¬ able a tale of volumes.


3iS


310


BIBLIOGRAPHY


I need hardly point out that side by side with works of the highest importance it has been found necessary r to include a few of no great value, which yet have their use to illustrate some one point or special phase.


GENERAL

Caillet, Albert L. Manuel bihhographique cles science# psychiques ou occuUes, science des Mages, he? metique } asPrologie , liabbale, Franc - maponnerie, medecine ancienne, mesmensme, sorcellene, singular ites, etc 3 voIs Pans, 1913.

Giuesse, Johan Georg Tiieodor Bibliotheca magica et pnemnatica. Leipzig, 1843. (fn .spile of obvious defects a very valuable bibliography )

Yve-Plessis, R. Bibliographic j ran false de la soicellcne . Fans, 1900. (An immense and oxhau.st.ivo work on French books )

Aaron the Greek [Simon Blocquel] La Magte rouge. Paris, 1821

Abner, Theodore. Les apparitions du Liable. Brussels, 1879.

Acontitjs. fttuttagemuia Halanw. Lihn VI11 Basie, 1565

Acta Banctorum. Par los Bollandistes Antwerp, Tongcrloo, Brussels, 1644 sqq. Preprinted, Pants, 1803 sqq.

Adhfmar de Ciiabannes, Chronicle : in Monumcnta Germanise historian. Bid G A Port z, ole. Vol.IV.

Ag guard, S. Opera omnia. Migno, Pat?ologia Latina. Vol. 01V.

A grift a, Heinrich Cornelius La philosophic occult e de Lfenr. Com Agnppa . . . tradmie du la tin [par A. Lovasseur]. 2 vols. Hague, 1727.

GUu'vres magiques , . . miscs en fran pads par Pierre d? A ban Rome, 1744.

(Of the last rarity. There are other editions, Liege, 1788 ; Rome, 1800 ; Rome, 1744 (circa 1S30) , but all these are extremely scarce.)

Alanus (Alain do Lille) Aduersus hmreticos et Waldenses. Ed J Masson. Pans, 1612.

Alanus, Hionkicus. Crcenmis dc Dwinatione et de Fato. 1839.

Albert, Le Pettt. Albeitt Faria Lncii hbcllus de m irabthbus Natura 1 a reams, (This tiealiso which tells how to confect philtres, make talismans, use the hand of glory, discover treasures, ole , has been very h equently translated into French, generally under the running title Les secrets merveilleux de la magre naturelle et cahahsttque. . . .)

Bl. Albert us Magnus, O P Opera omnia . Ed. Father Peter Jammy, O.P. 21 vols. Lyons, 1651, etc.

Ue alchmvia . (This treatise is said to bo doubtful.)

De secrePis mnherum. (This work is certainly not from the pen of the great Dominican doctor, to whom, however, it was universally ascribed. There are a vast number of editions, and translations, especially mto French. Les sccrctz des femmes ct homes . . . stamp)ato in Torino par Pietro Hanoi , HD. circa 1540. Les secrets admirables du grand Albert, Paris, 1895.)

Commcntana. Lib. IV, dist. 34 An makficn impedimenta atiqms potest impediri a potentia cocimdi. (Noaid de VaiguilleUe.)

Alexander III, Pore. Fpwtolce apud Megesta H. M. Pontiflcum> . Nos. 10, 584—14, 424. Ed. Jatl’e. And Lowenf old’s Bpisiolm Pontif. Mom. ineditm. Leipzig, 1885.

Alexis. Secreti del reverendo Donno Alessio Piemontese. Venice, 1555. (Attributed by Girolamo Muzio to the alchemist Girolamo Ruscelh.)

Allard, Paul. IListmre des persecutions. 5 vols. Pans, 1892.

Juhen VAposlat. 3 vols Pans, 1900

Alphonsus Liguori, S. Theologia Moralis, 0 vols. Malinos, 1828. A43o ed P. Gaucte, C. 88. R. Rome, 1905.


BIBLIOGRAPHY


317


Alvaro, Pelayo De Planctu Ecclesice Venice, 1560.

Ambroise da Vignate (c. 1408). Tractatus de Hcmetieis . Rome, 1581. AiyysROSE, S. Opera omnia, Ed Paolo Angelo JBalionni. 6 vols. Polio. Milan, 1875

Anania, Giovanni Lorenzo. De Natura Da'monum. A pud Vol.’ll. Malleus ill a le ft ca rum 1669.

Anonymi Qesta F? ancoium et Ahoium Dherosolymitanoium Oxfoid. Antonelli, G. Prof Do spiritismo. JPede e Sctcnza, IT. 11, 12 Romo, Antoninus, O. P S Confession ale Florence, 1496.

Antonio a Spirit u Sancto, O I) C. Directoi iitm Mysticum . Paris, 1901 Are mi (Le Sage). Secrets de vteux Drwde. Lille, 1840.

Aretini, Angelo. Tiactatus de maleficns. 1521.

Aries, Martin. Dc super stifiombus maleficorum Romo, 1559 Ariminensis, Augustinus Additioncs %n Angeh Aretini Tractatum de maleficns. Milan, 1514.

Aenaqld pe Villeneuve. De Maleficns. Lyons, 1509.

Arnoulp, Arthur Hi slot re de V Inquisition Paris, 1869.

Aroux. Mysteres de la Chevalciie et de Vamour platonique. 1857—8.

Arpe (Petr Frid ). De Ptoriigwsis Natural et Aitis Opcnbus Tali*manes ci A mul eta. Hamburg, 1717.

Athanasius, S. Ope?a omnia. Miguo, Pat Oracci. Vols XXL1I XXVIII. Atwood, M A. A Suggestive Inquiry into the Hcnncfic Mystery Augustine, S. Opera omnia . Migno. Pat. Lat Vols. XXXIX-XLV1J.

De CiuUate Dei. Ed J E. C. Wolldon, D.D., Doan of Durham. 2 vols. 1924 (Tho introduction and appendices must bo used with caution.)

Confessiones Ed. P, Knoll Co?pus Scrvptoi um Peel. Latvwrum (Vienna.)

xxxxi r.

d’Autun, Jacques. Nine? edulitd savante. Lyons, 1674. d’Avallon, Andre, et Condis. JJict ton turn e dc d?oit canoniquc Azpiloeuta, Martin Opera omnia 3 vols Lyons, 1589.

Baco, R. De seeretis operibus magiae, Pans, 1542.

Bacon, Roger, Epistola de seeretis operibus, Hamburg, 1608 ; 1618.

(Tho same work as De mirabili potentate art is et naturae et dc null it ate magic® Pans, 1542 ; Oxford, 1604 ; London, 1859.

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Transcendental Magic, (Translated, annotated, and introduced by Arthur Edward Waite.)

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Gilbert, William. WiU hcrajt tn Ewe a London, 1909.

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Philobibhon Society Examination of certain Witches London, 1803-4 Pike, L. O. History of Grime in England. London, 1873 Pitcairn, Robert. Criminal Ti ials Edinburgh, 3 833.

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329


ENGLAND: THE PAMPHLET LITERATURE

(Arranged in chronological order)

The Examination and confession of certaine Wytches at Chensforde in the Countie of Essex before the Queues maiesties Judges, the XXVI daye of July Anno 1566.

A Rehearsall both straung and true of hainous and horrible actes committed by Elizabeth Stile , alias Rockingham, Mothei Duttcn, Mother Devetl, Mother Margaret. Fower notorious Witches apjnehcnded at Winsore in the Countie of Baiks, and at Abington arraigned, condemned and executed on the 28 daye of Februarie last anno 1579.

A Detection of damnable dnftes, practised by three Witches an aigned at Chehns- foide in Essex . . . whiche were executed in Apr ill 1579. 1579

The apprehension and confession of three notorious Witches arraigned and by Justice condemnede m the County e of Essex the 5 day of Julye last past. 1589

A True and just Becorde of the Information , Examination and Confessions of all the Witches taken at St. Oscs m the countie of Essex : wherefore some were executed, and other some entreated accordingly to the determination of Lawe. . . Written orderly , as the cases were tryed by evidence, by W. W* 1582.

The most strange and admirable discoverie of the three Witches of Worboys, arraigned, convicted and executed at the last assizes at Huntingdon. London, 1593.

(This was one of the most famous eases of English Witchcraft. A whole literature grow up xn connexion therewith. In Notes and Queries, Twelfth Senes, X, 1910, p, 283 and p. 301, will bo found : “ The Witches of Warboys : Bibliographical Note,” whore twenty-eight entries aio made.)

The most wonder full and true storie of a certaine Witch named Also Goodcridge of Stapenhill , who was arraigned and convicted at Darbie. , . .4^ also a

true Repot t of the strange Torments of Thomas Darling, a boy of thirteen years of age, that was possessed by the Devill, with his horrible Elites and terrible apparitions by him uttered at Burton upon Trent, in the county of Stafford, and of Ms marvellous deliverance. London, 1597. [By John Denison.]

The Arraignment and Execution of 3 detestable Witches , John Newell, Joane his wife, and He lien Valles ; two executed at Barnett , and one at B? ay n ford, 1 Dec 1595.

The severall Facts of Witchcrafts approved on Margaret Haskett of Stanmore, 1585. Black letter.

An Account of Margaret Hack'd, a notorious Witch, who consumed a young Man to Death, rotted his Bowells and back bone asunder, who was executed at Tiborn , 19 Feb. 1585. London, 1585.

The Examination and Confession of a notorious Witch named Mother Arnold, alias Whitecote, alias Glastonbury, at the Assise of Burntwood in July, 1574 ; who was hanged for Witchcraft at Barking. 1575.

(The four preceding pamphlets although referred to by Lowndes and other bibliographers apparently have not boon traced.)

A true report of three Straunge Witches, lately found at Ncwnham Regis .

(Not traced. Hazlitt, Handbook, p. 231*

A short treatise declaringe the detestable wiekednesse of magieall sciences, as Necromancie, Coniuration of GpirUcs, Gur louse Astro logic and such lyke. . . Made by Francis Ooxe . | London, 1561.] Black letter.

The Examination of John Walsh , before Master Thomas Williams, Commissary to the Reverend father in God, William, bishop of Excester, upon certayne Interrogator ics touchy ng WytcMcrafte and Bo retry c, in the presence of divers gentlemen ami others, the XX of August, 1566. 1566. Black letter.

The discloysmg of a late counterfeited possession by the devyl in two maydem within the Gitie of London . [1574.] Black letter.


330 BIBLIOGRAPHY

The Wonderfull Worke of God shewed upon a Chylde, whose name is William ' Withers, being in the Towns of Walsam . . . Suffolk , who, being Eleven Yeeres of age, laye m a Traunce the Space of tenne Days . . and ?iath continued the Space of Three Weeks London, 1581.

A Most Wicked worke of a Wretched Witch (the like whereof none can record these mame yeares in England) wr ought on the Person of one Richard Burt, servant to Maister Edhng of Woodhall m the Banish of Pinner in the Countie of Myddlesex, a myle beyond Harrow. Latehe committed in March last, An 1592 and newly recognized acordmg to the truth. By 0 B. maister of Artes. [London, 1593 ]

A defensative against the poyson of supposed prophecies, not l 'tthcrto confuted by the penne of any man ; which being cyther uppon fie warrant and authority of old paynted bookes, expositions of dreames, oracles, revelations, invocations of damned spirits . . have been causes of great disorder in

the commonwealth and chiefly among the simple and unlearned people Circa 1581-3

The scratchinge of the wytches 1579 A warnynge to wytches . 1585

A lamentable songe of Three Wytches of War bos, and executed at Huntingdon. 1593.

(Tlie three procedm" aro ballads Soo ffazhtt, Bibliographical Collections and Notes , 2nd Berios. London, ] 882.)

A poosye in forme of a visycm, agaynstc wytche Grafte, and Sosyrye.

A Breife Narration of the possession, dispossession, and repossession of William Sommers . . . Together with certamc depositions taken at Nottingham.

1598.

An Apologie, or defence of the 'possession of William Sommers, a yong man of the towns of Nottingham. . . . By John Darrell, Minister of Christ Jesus. [1599 ?J Black letter

The Triad of Maist. Darrel, or A Collection of Defences against A tlegations. . .

1599.

(Apparently written by Darrel hunseif; but the Hnth catalogue (V 1613) ascribes it to James Bamford )

A brief Apologie proving the possession of William Sommers. Written by John Dorr cl, a faithful Minister oj the Gasp ell, but published without his knowledge. . . . 1599.

A Discovery oj the Fraudulent Practises of John Darrel, Bachelor of Artes. . . .

London, 1599. (By Samuel Haisnett.)

A True Narration of the strange and grevous Vexation by the Devil of seven persons in Lancashire. . . , 1600. Written by Darrel

(Reprinted m 1641, and again in the Somers Tracts, IIL)

A True Discourse concerning the certamc possession and dispossession of 7 persons m one farmhe m Lancashire, which also may serve as part of an Ansnere to afayned and false Discoverie. . . . By George More, Minister and Preacher of the Words of God . . . . 1600 A Detection of that sinnful, shamful, lying, and ridiculous discours of Samuel Harshnet 1600. (By Darrel in answer to ilarsnott )

A Summane Answere to at the Material Points m any oj Master Darcl his bookes, More especial lie to that one Booke of his, intituled, the Doctrine of the Possession and Dispossession of Demo males out of the word of God. By John Deacon [and] John Walker, Preachers. London, 1001 A Survey of Certamc Dialogical Discourses, written by John Deacon and John Walker. . . . By John Darrell, minister of the gospel, . . 1602

The Meplie of John Darrell, to the Answer of John Deacon, and John Walker concerning the doctrine of the Possession and Dispossession of Dcmoniakes. . . . 1002

A True and Breife Report of Mary Glover's Vexation , and of her deliverance by the meanes of fastinge and prayer. . , . By John Bwan, student in Divinitie . . * 1603.

Elizabeth Jackson was indicted on the charge of having bewitched Mary Glover, but Dr, Edward Jordan, who examined the girl declared her an hysterical impostor in his pamphlet



BIBLIOGRAPHY


331


A briefe discourse of a disease called the Suffocation of the Mother, Written uppon occasion which hath beene of late taken thereby, to suspect possession of an \evill spirit . . London, 1603.

A history of the case of Catherine Wright.

The strange Newes out of Sommersetshirc, Anno 1584, iearmed, a dreadfull discourse of the dispossessing of one Mag gar et Cooper at Ditchet, from a demll m the hkenes of a headlesse beare Discovery of the Fraudulent Practices of John Darrel 1584

The Most Cruell and Bloody Murther committed by an Inn-keepers Wife called Annis Dell, and her Sonne George Dell , Pome Years since. . . With the sever all Witch-crafts and most damnable practices of one lohane Harrison and her Daughter, upon several persons men and women at Royston, who were all executed at Hartford the 4 of August last past 1606. London, 1606.

The Witches of Nor thamptonshire


Agnes Browne Joane Vaughan


{


}


Witches


Arthur Bill Hellen Jenkcnson Mary Barber

Who were all executed at Northampton the 22 of July last. 1612. 1612.

The severall notorious and lewd Cosenages of John West and Alice West, f alsely called the King and Queene of Faymes . . . convicted , . . 1613. London, 1613


The Wonderfull Discoverle of Witches in the countie of Lancaster. With the Arraignment and Tr mil of Nmeteene notorious Witches, at the Assizes and Gaole deliveries holden at the Castle of Lancaster , upon Munday, the seventeenth of August last, 1612 Before Sir James Alt ham, and Sir Edward Bromley London, 1613.

(Reprinted by the Clietham Society, edited Jamos Oossley. 1845. One ot the most famous of tho witch-ti nils )

Witches Apprehended, Examined and Executed, for notable vitlames by them committed both by Land and Water. With a strange and most true tr lal how to know whether a woman be a Witch or not London, 1613 A Booke of the Wytches Lately condemned and executed at Bedford, 1612—1613. A Treatise of Witchcraft, , . . With a true Narration of the Witchcrafts which Mary Smith , wife of Henry Smith , Glover, did practise . , , and lastly, of her death and execution, . . . By Alexander Roberts , B.D and Preacher of Gods Word at Kings-Ijinne in Norffolke . London, 1616,

The Wonderful Discovene of the Witchcrafts of Margaret and Phillip Flower , daughters of Joan Flower neere Bever Castle : executed at Lincolne , March 11, 1618. Who were specially arraigned and condemned . . , for confessing themselves actors in the destruction of Henry , Lord Rosse , with their damnable practises against others the Children of the Right Honourable Francis Earle of Rutland. Together with the severall Examinations and Confessions of Anne Baker , Joan Wilhmot, and Ellen Greene, Witches of Leicestershire. London, 1619,

Strange and wonderfull Witchcrafts, discovering the damnable Practises of seven Witches against the Lives of certain noble Personages and others of this Kingdom , with an approved Triall how to find out either Witch or any Apprentice to Witchcraft 162L Another edition in 1635.

The Wonderfull discovene of Elizabeth Lawyer . . late of Edmonton, her

conviction, condemnation and Death .'. , , Written by Henry Goodcole, Minister of the word of God, and her continuall Visiter in the Gaole of Newgate . . . 1621

(Reprinted m Yol. I (lxxxi-evii) of Ballon’s recension of the Dyee- Gifford Ford 3 vols. London, 1895 )

The Boy of Bilson ; or A True Discovery of the Late Notorious Impostures of Certaine Romish Priests in their pretended Exorcisms, or expulsion of the Dwell out of a young Boy, named William Perry. , . , London, 1622.

A Discourse of Witchcraft As it was acted in the Family of Mr. Ed,ward Fairfax of Fuystone in the County of York , in the year 162 L Edited by 14, Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton) for Vol, Y of Miscellanies of the Philohiblon Loc. London, 1858-1859, (Tho editor says the original MS, is still in existence.)


332 BIBLIOGRAPHY

A Most certain, strange and true Discovery of a 'Witch , Being overtaken by some of the Parliament Forces, as she was standing on a small Planch-board and sayling on it over the Fiver of Newbury, Together with the strange and J rue manner of her death. 1643.

-4 Confirmation and Discovery of Witch-craft , . , together with the Confessions of many of those executed since May, 1645. . , By John Stearns.

The Examination, Confession, Tmall, and Execution of Joane Williford, Joan Camden and Jane Hott , who were executed at Face?sham, in Kent . . , all attested under the hand of Pobert Greensti eet, Maior of Faveisham.

A true and exact Relation of the severall Informations, Examinations, and Con¬ fessions of the late Witches arraigned . . . and condemned at the late Sessions, holden at Chelmsford before the Right Honorable Robert, Earle of Warwiche, and severall of Ins Majesties Justices of Peace, the 29 of July, 1645.

A True Relation of the Arraignment of eighteene Witches at St. Edmundsbury, With August, 1645. . . As Also a List of the names of those that were

executed.

Strange and fear full newes from Plaisto in the parish of Wesiham neere Bow fame miles from London London, 1645.

The Lawes against Witches and Conjuration, and Some brief Notes and Observations for the Discovery of Witches. Being very Usefull for these Times wherein the Devil reignes and prcvailes. . . . Also The Confession of Mother Lakeland, who was arraigned and condemned for a Witch at Ipswich in Suffolke. . . . By Authority. London, 1645

Signes mid Wonders from Heaven. . , . Likewise a new discovery of Witches in Stepney Parish And how 20 Witches more were executed in Suffolk this last Assize , +llso how the Dwell came to Sojfom to a Farmer's house in the habit of a Gentlewoman on horse backs. London [1645].

Relation of a boy who was entertained by the Devil to be Servant to Mm . . . about Or edition in the West, and how the Devil carried him up in the aire, and showed him the torments of Hell, and some of the Cavaliers there, etc , with a coppie of a Letter from Maior Generali Massie, concerning these strange and Wonder full things, with a certaine box of Religues and Crucifixes found in Tiverton Church. 1645.

(A ridiculous, but not uninteresting, publication.)

The Witches of Huntingdon, their Examinations and Confessions . , . . London, 1646.

(The Dedication is signed by John Davenport )

The Discovery of Witches . in answer to severall Queries, lately Delivered to the Judges of Assize for the County of Norfolk. And now published by Matthew Hopkins, Witchfinder, For the Benefit of the Whole Kingdoms. . London, 1647.

(The most famous of the “ Hopkins series.”)

A strange and true Relation of a Young Woman possest with the Demll By name Joyce Dovey dwelling at Bcwdley neer Worcester. ... Also a Letter from Cambridge, wherein is related the late conference between the Devil (in the shape of a Mr. of Arts) and one Ashbourner, a Scholler of S. Johns Golledge

  •  ; . who was afterwards carried away by him and nevet heard of since onely

his Gown found in the River. London, 1647.

The Full Tryals, Examination and Condemnation of Four Notorious Witches, At the Assizes held in Worcester on Tuseday the 4th of March. . , . As also Their Confessions and last Dying Speeches at the place of Execution, with other Amazing Particulars. . . . London, no date.

The Divels Delusions or Af aithfull relation of John Palmer and Elizabeth Knot two notorious Witches lately condemned at the Sessions of Oyer and Terminer in St. Albans. 1649.

W onderfull News from the North, Or a True Relation of the Sad and Grievous Torments Inflicted upon the Bodies of three Children of Mr. George Mus- champ, late of the County of Northumberland, by Witchcraft. . . * As also the prosecution of the sayd Witches, as by Oaths, and their own Confessions will appear and by the Indictment found by the Jury against one of them, at the Sessions of the Peace held at Alnwick, the 24 day of April, 1650. London, 1650.


BIBLIOGRAPHY


833


The strange Witch at Greenwich haunting a Wench, 1650.

A Strange Witch at Greenwich, 1050

Th% Witch of Wappmg, or an Exact and Perfect Eolation of the Life and Devilish " Practises of Joan Peterson, who dwelt in Spruce Island, near Wappmg ; Who was condemned for practising Witchcraft, and sentenced to be Hanged at Tyburn, on Munday the 11th of April , 1652. London, 1652.

A Declaration m Answer to several lying Pamphlets concerning the Witch of Wappmg, . . . shelving the Bloudy Plot and wicked Conspiracy of one Abraham Vdndenhemde, Thomas Crompton, Thomas Collet, and others . London, 1652.

The Tryall and Examinations of Mrs. Joan Peterson before the Honourable Bench at the Sessions house in the Old Bayley yesterday. [1652 J

Doctor Lamb's Darling, or Strange and terrible News from Salisbury ; Being A true, exact, and perfect Relation of the great and wonderful Contract and Engagement made beiiveen the Devil, and Mistris Anne Bodcnham ; with the manner how she could transform herself into ike shape of a Masltve Dog, a black Lyon, a white Bear, a Woolf, a Bull, and a Cat . . . The Try a l, Examinations, and Confession , . . before the Lord Chief Baron Wild.

. . . By James [.Edmond ?] Bower, Cleric. London, 1653

Doctor Lamb Revived, or, Witchcraft condemn’d m Anne Bodcnham . . . who was Arraigned and Executed the Lent Assizes lad at Salisbury, before the Right Honour able the Lord Chief Baron Wild, Judge of the Assize. . . . By Edmund Bower, an eye and ear Witness oj her Examination and Confession. London, 1053. (Bowor’s second and more detailed account.)

A Prodigious and Tragicall History of the Arraignment, Tryall, Confession, and Condemnation of six Witches at Maidstone, m Kent , at the Assizes there held m July, Pry day 30, this present year, 1652 Before the Might Honorable, Peter Warburlon. . . . Collected from the Observations of E. G. Gent, a learned person, present at then Convict ions and Condemnation London, 1652.

The most true and wonderfull Narration of two women bewitched m Yorkshire : Who comming to the Assizes at York to give Evidence against the Witch after a most horrible noise to the terror and amazement of all the beholders , did vomit forth before the Judges, Pms, wool. , . , Also a most true Relation of a young Maid . . . who , . . did . . . vomit forth worlds of straw, with pins a cros.se in them » iron Nails, Needles, ... as it is attested under the hand of that most famous Phisition Doctor Henry fleers. . . 1658

A more Exact Relation of the most lamentable and horrid Contract with Lydia Rogers , living in Pump-Alley in Wapping, made with the Dival. . . Together with the great pains and prayers of many eminent Divines. , . 1658

The Snare of the Devill Discovered : Or, A True and perfect Relation of the sad and deplorable Condition of Lydia the Wife of John Rogers House Carpenter, living m Greenbankm Pumpe alley in Wappm. , . . A Iso her Examination by Mr. Johnson the Minister of Wappm, and her Confession. As also in what a sad Condition she continues. . . * London, 1658.

Strange and Terrible Newcs from Cambridge, being A true Relation of the Quakers bewitching of Mary Philips . . . into the shape of a Bay Mure, riding her from Dm ton towaids the University. With the manner how she became visible again . . . in her own Likeness and Shape, ivith her sides all rent and torn, as if they had been spur-galled, • . . and the Names of the Quakers brought to tryal on Friday last at the Assizes held at Cambridge, , . . London, 3 659.

The Power of Witchcraft, Being a most strange but true Relation of the most miraculous and wonderful deliverance of one Mr William Harrison of Cambden m the County of Gloucester, Steward to the Lady NoweL . , . London, 1662.

A True and Perfect Account of the Examination , Confession, Tryal, Condemna¬ tion and Execution of Joan Perry and her two Sons , . , for the supposed murder of ^William Harrison, Gent. . . . London, 1676.

/I Tryal of Witches at the assizes held at Bury St. Edmonds for the County of Suffolk ; on the tenth day of March, 1664. London, 1682 ; and 1716.


334


BIBLIOGRAPHY


The LorTs Arm Stratched Out m an Answer oj Prayer or a True Relation of the Wonderful Deliverance of James Barrow, the Son of John Barrow of Olaves Southwark, London, 1664. (A Baptist tract.)

The wonder of Sujfolke, being a true relation of one that reports he made a league with the Devil for thr ee year s, to do mischief , and now breaks open houses, robs people daily . . and can neither be shot nor taken, but leaps over walls fifteen feet high, runs five or six miles m a quarter of an hour, and sometimes vanishes m the midst of multitudes that go to take him Faith¬ fully written m a letter from a solemn person, dated not long since, to a fiend m Ship-Yard near Temple-bar, and ready to be attested by hundreds. . . . London, 1677.

Daimonomageia : a small Treatise oj Sicknesses and Diseases from Witchcraft and Supernatural Causes . . . Being useful to others besides Physicians, m that it confutes Atheistical, Sadductstical, and Sceptical Principles and Imaginations. . . . London, 1665.

Hariford-shrre Wonder. Or, Strange News from Ware, Being an Exact and true Relation of one Jane StreMon . . . ivho hath been visited in a strange kind of manner by extraordinary and unusual fits. . . . London, 1669.

A Magicall Vision, Or a Perfect Discovery of the Fallacies of Witchcraft, As it was lately represented in a pleasant sweet Dream to a Holyswect Sister, a faithful and pretious As&crtor oj the Family of the Stand-Hups, for pre¬ servation of the Saints from being tainted with the heresies of the Congregation of the Doe-Littlcs. London, 1673. (Hazhtt, Bibliographical Collections, fourth sones, s u Witchcraft.)

A Full and True Relation of The Tryal, Condemnation, and Execution of Ann Foster ... at the place of Execution at Northampton. With the Manner how she by her Malice and Witchcraft set all the Barns and Corn on Fire . . . and bewitched a whole Flock of Sheep. . . . London, 1674.

Strange News from Arpmgton near Bexby in Kent Being a True Narrative of a yong Maid who was Possest with several Devils. . . . London, 1679.

Strange and Wonderful News from Yowell in Surry , Giving a True and Just Account of One Elizabeth Burgess, Who was most strangely Bewitched and Torimed at a sad late. London, 1681.

An Account of the Tryal and Examination of Joan Buts, for being a Common Witch and Inchantress, before the Right Honourable Sir Francis Pemberton, Lord Chief Justice, at the Assizes . . 1682. Single leaf.

The Tryal, Condemnation, and Execution of Three Witches, viz., Temperance Floyd, Mary Floyd, and Susanna Edwards Who were Arraigned at Exeter on the IHth of August, 1682. London, 1682.

A True and Impartial Relation oj the Informations against Three Witches, viz.. Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles, and Susanna Edwards , who were . . . Convicted at the Assizes holden . . . at . . . Exon, Aug 14, 1682. With their several Confessions ... as also Their . . . Behaviour, at the , . . Execution on the Twenty fifth of the said Month London, 1682.

Witchraft discovered and punished Or the Tryals and Condemnation of three Notorious Witches, who were Tryed the last Assizes, holden at the Castle of Exeter . . . where they received sentence of Death, for bewitching severall Persons, destroying Ships at Sea, and Cattcl by Land. To the Tune of Doctor Faustus ; or Fortune my Foe.

(A ballad. Roxbnrghc Collection. Broadside.)

The Life and Conversation of Temperance Floyd, Mary Lloyd and Susanna Edwards . . . ; Lately Condemned at Exeter Assizes ; together with a full Account of their first Agreement with the Devil ; With the manner how they prosecuted their devilish Sorceries. . . . London, 1687.

A Full and True Account of the Proceedings at the Sessions of Oyer and Terminer . . . which began at the Sessions House in the Old Bayley on Thursday, June 1st, and Ended on Fryday, June 2nd, 1682. Wherein is Contained the Tryall of Jane Kent for WUchcrajt.

Strange and Dreadful News from the Town of Deptford in the County of Kent, Being a Full, True, and Sad Relation of one Anne Arthur. 1884-5. One leaf, folio.


BIBLIOGRAPHY 335

Strange newes from Shadwell, being a . . , relation of the death of Ahce Fowler , who had for many years been accounted a witch. London, 1685

A Ofrue Account of a Strange and Wonderful Relation of one John Tonhen , of "Pensans m Cornwall, said to be Bewitched by some Women * two of which on Suspition are committed to Prison. London, 1686.

News from Pamer A lley , or a True Relation of Some Pranks the Demi hath lately play'd with a Plaster Pot there . London, 1687.

A faithful narrative of the . . . fits which . . . Thomas Spatchet . . . was under by witchcraft. . . . 1693

The Second Part of the Boy of Bilson , Or a True and Particular Relation of the Imposter Susanna Fowles, wife of John Fowles of Hammersmith in the Co. of Midd., who pretended herself to be possessed. London, 1698.

A Full and True Account Both of the Life . And also the Manner and Method of carrying on the Delusions, Blasphemies , and Notorious Cheats of Susan Fowls , as the same was Contrived, Plotted, Invented , and Managed by wicked Popish Priests and other Papists.

The trial of Susannah Fowles, of Hammersmith, for blaspheming Jesus Christ 9 and cursing the Lord's Prayer. . . . London, 1698.

The Case of Witchcraft at CoggeshaTt , Essex , m the year 3 699. Being the Narra¬ tive oj the Rev J Boys, Minister of the Parish. Printed from his manu¬ script m the possession of tho publisher (A Russell Smith). London, 190L

A True and Impartial Account of the Dark and Hellish Power of Witchcraft , Lately Exercised on the Body of the Reverend Mr Wood , Minister of Bodmyn. In a Letter from a Gentleman there , to his Friend in Exon 9 in Confirmation thereof Exeter, 1700.

A Full and True Account of the Apprehending and Taking of Mrs. Sarah Moor dike, Who is accused jot a Witch, Being taken near Pauls' Wharf . . . for having Bewitched one Richard, Helhcway . . With her Examination

bejoie the Right Worshipful Sir Thomas Lane , Sir Oven Buckingham, and Dr, Hambleton in Bowe-lanc. 1701.

A short Account of the Trial held at Surry Assizes t in the Borough of Southwark ; on an Information against Richard Hath,way . . for Riot and Assault. London, 1702

The Try all of Richard Hathaway , upon an Information For being a (’heat and Imposter. For endeavouring to take away the Life of Sarah Morduck, For being a Witch at Surry Assizes . . . London, 1702.

A Full and True Account of the Discovery , Apprehending , and taking oj a Notorious Witch , who was carried before Justice Bateman in Well-Close on Sunday, July the 23. Together with her Examination and Commitment to Bndewel, Clerkenwell . London, 1701.

An Account of the Tryals, Examination, and Condemnation of Elinor Shaw and Mary Phillips. . . . 1705.

The Northamptonshire Witches. , . . 1705

The Devil Turned Casuist, or the Cheats of Rome Laid open in the Exorcism of a Despairing Devil at the House of Thomas Bennington in Oriel. . . * By Zachary Taylor , M A , Chaplain to the Ihght reverend Father in God, Nicholas, Lord Bishop of Chester, and Rector of Wigan , London, 1696,

The Surey Demoniack, Or an Account of Satan's Strange and Dreadful Actings , In and about the Body of Richard Dugdale of Surey , near Whalley in Lancashire. And How he was Dispossest by Gods blessing on the Fastings and Prayers of divers Ministers and People. London, 1697.

The Surey Imposter , being an answer to a late Fanatical Pamphlet, mlituled The Surey Demoniack. By Zachary Taylor. London, 1697.

A Vindication of the Surey Demoniack as no Imposter : Or, A Reply to a certain Pamphlet publish'd by Mr. Each. Taylor , called The Surey Imposter ,

. . By T. J., London, 1698.

Popery , Supersitition, Ignorance and Knavery very unjustly by a letter in the general pretended ; but as far as was charg'd very fully proved upon the Dissenters that were concerned in the Surey Imposture. 1698. Written by Zachary Taylor.



336


BIBLIOGRAPHY


The Lancashire Levite Rebuked, or a Vindication of the Dissenters from Popery, Superstition, Ignorance , and Knavery, unjustly Charged on them by Mr. Zachary Taylor . . . . London, 1698. *

The Lancashire Levite Rebuked, or a Farther Vindication. 1698 *

Popery , Superstition , Ignorance, and Knavery, Confess'd and fully Proved on the Surey Dissenters, from a Second Letter of an Apostate Friend, to Each. Taylor. To which is added a Refutation of T. Jolhe's Vindication.

. . . London, 1699. Written by Zachary Taylor.

A Refutation of Mr. T. Jolly's Vindication of the Devil m Dugdale ; Or, The Smey Demoniack London, 1699.

The Portsmouth Ghost, or A Full and true Account of a Strange, wonderful, and dreadful Appearing of the Ghost of Madam Johnson, a beautijul young Lady of Portsmouth, Shelving, 1. Her falling m Love with Mr. John Hun t, a Captain in one of the Regiments sent to Spam 2 Of his promising her Marriage, and leaving her big With Child. 3. Of her selling herself to the Devil to be revenged on the Captain. 4 Of her ripping open her own Belly, and the Devil’s flying away with her Body, and leaving the Child in the room. ... 7. Of her Carrying [the Captain ] away m the night m a flame of fire. Printed and sold by Gluer Dicoy and Co m Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane. Circa 1704

A Looking Glass for Swearers, Drunkards, Blasphemers , Sabbath Breakers, Rash Wishers, and Murderers. Being a True Relation of one Elizabeth Hale, m Scotch Yard m White Cross Street ; who having sold herself to the Devil to be reveng'd on her Neighbours, did on Sunday last, in a wicked manner , put a quantity of Poyson into a Pot where a Piece of Beef was a boyhng for several Poor Women and Children , Two of which dropt down dead, and Twelve more are dangerously III, the Truth of which will be Attested by several m the Neighbourhood. Her Examination upon the Crowners Inquest and her Commitment to Newgate. Printed by W. Wise and M. Holt in Fleet Street, 1708.

The Witch of the Woodlands , Or, The Cobler's New Translation. Printed and Sold m Aldermary Church Yard, Bow Lane, London. No date, but about 1710. This pamphlet merely relates an old legend, but is interesting as reproducing with appropriate woodcuts intimate details of the mediaeval Sabbat.

An Account of the Tryal, Examination, and Condemnation of Jane Wenham, on an Indictment of Witchcraft, for Bewitching of Matthew Gilston and Anne Thorne of Walcorne , in the County of Hertford . , . .

A Full and Impartial Account of the Discovery of Soicery and Wiichciajt, Practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkerne m Hertfordshire , upon the bodies of Avne Thorn, Anne Street, dbc. . , . till she . , . receiv'd Sentence of Death for the same, March 4, 1711-12. London, 1712.

Witchcraft Farther Display'd . Containing (I) An Account of the Witchcraft practis'd by Jane Wenham of Walkerne, m Hertfordshire, since her Condemnation , upon the bodies of Anne Thorne and Anne Street. . . . (II) An Answer to the most general Objections against the Being and Power of Witches : With some Remarks upon the Case of Jane Wenham in particular , and on Mr. Justice Rowel's procedure therein. . . . London, 1712.

A Full Confutation of Witchcraft: More particularly of the Depositions against Jane Wenham, Lately Condemned for a Witch, at Hertford. In which the Modern Notions of Witches are overthrown, and the III Consequences of such Doctrines are exposed by Arguments ; proving that. Witchcraft is Priestcraft . ... In a Letter from a Physician in Hertfordshire, to his Friend m London. London, 1712.

The Impossibility of Witchcraft, Plainly Proving, From Scripture and Reason, That there never was a Witch ; and that it is both In ationat and Impious to believe there ever was . In which the Depositions against Jane Wenham f Lately Try'd and Condemned for a Witch, at Hertford, are Confuted and Expos'd . London, 1712.

The Belief of Witchcraft Vindicated ; piomng from Scripture , there have been Witches ; and from Reason , that there may be Such still . In answer to a


BIBLIOGRAPHY 337

late Pamphlet, IntituledThe Impossibility of Witchcraft. . . By G. B.,

A.M. London, 1712.

The* Case of the Hertfordshire Witchcraft Consider'd. Being an Examination of a booh entitl'd, A Full and Impartial Account. . . . London, 1712

A Defense of the Proceedings against Jane Wenham, wherein the Possibility and Reality of Witchcraft are Demonstrated from Scripture . . . In Answer to Two Pamphlets Entituled : (I) The Impossibility of Witchcraft , etc (II) A Full Confutation of Witchcraft. By LYancls Braggo, A.B , London, 1712.

The Impossibility of Witchcraft Further Demonstrated, Both from Scripture and Reason . . . with some Cursory Remarks on two trifling Pamphlets in Defense of the existence of Witches. 1712.

An Account of The Tryals, Examination and Condemnation of Elinor Shaw and Mary Phillips (Two notorious Witches) on Wednesday the 7th of March, 1705 , for Bewitching a Woman, and two children. . . . With an Account of their strange Confessions Thus is signed at the end, “ Ralph Davis, March 8, 1705.” It was followed very shortly by a completer account, written after the execution, and entitled :

The Northamptonshire Witches , Being a true and faithful account of the Births, Educations, Lives, and Conversations of Elinor Shaw and Mary Phillips (The two notorious Witches ) That were Executed at Northampton on Saturday , March the 17th, 1705 . . . with their full Confession to the Minister, and last Dying Speeches at the place of Execution, the like never before heard of. . . Communicated m a Letter last Post, from Mr. Ralph Davis of Northampton, to Mr. William Simons , Merchant vn London . London, 1705.

The Whole Trial and Examination of Mrs Mary Hides and her Daughter Elizabeth, But of Nine Years of Age, roho ‘were Condemn'd the last Assizes held at Huntingdon for Witchcraft , and there Executed on Saturday , the 28 th of July , 1716 . . the like never heard before , their Behaviour with

several Divines who came to converse with 'em whilst under their sentence of Death ; and last Dying Speeches and Confession at the place of execution . London, 1716 Thor© is a copy in the Bodleian Library.

(These last three pamphlets aro almost certainly spurious.)

A Terrible and seasonable Warning to young Men. Being a very particular and True Relation of one Abraham Joiner a young Man about 17 or 18 Years of Age, living in Shakesby's Walks in Shadwell , being a Ballast Man by Profession, who on Saturday Night last pick'd up a lend Woman, and spent what Money he had about him m Treating her , saying afterwards if she wou'd have any more he must go to the Demi for it, and slipping out of her Company, he went to the Cock and Lyon in King Street, the Devil appear'd to him, and gave him a Pistole, . . . appointing to meet him the next Night at the World's End at Stepney ; A Iso how his Brother perswaded him to throw the Money away, which he did ; but was suddenly Taken in a very strange manner ; so that they were fain to send for the Reverend Mr. Constable and other Ministers to pray with him,, he appearing now to he very Penitent. . . . Printed for J Button, near Meet Street. Circa 1718.

A Timely Warning to Rash and Disobedient Children Being a strange and wonderful Relation of a young Gentleman in the Parish of Slepheny in the Suburbs of London, that sold himself to the Devil for 12 years to have the Power of being revenged on his Father and Mother , and how his Time being expired , he lay in a sad and deplorable Condition to the Amazement of all Spectators. Edinburgh : Printed Anno 1721.

The Kentish Miracle, Or, a Seasonable Warning to all Sinners Shewn in The Wonderful Relation of one Mary Moore, whose Husband died some time ago, and left her with two Children , who was reduced to great Want. . . . How the Devil appeared to her , and the many great Offers he made to her to deny Christ, and enter into his Service ; and how she confounded Satan by powerful Arguments . . . with an Account how an Angel appeared to her and relieved her . . . , Edinburgh : Printed in the Year 1741.

(This is probably a reprint. The style of the pamphlet seems some thirty or forty years earlier.) z


338


BIBLIOGRAPHY


Trial of Thomas Colley , to which is annecced some Further Particulars of the Affair from the Mouth of John Osborne. 1751, (Tho trial took place at Hertford Assizes, 30 duly, 1751 )

Remarkable Confession and Last Dying Words of Thomas Colley. 1751.

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Bois, d ules. Le Satanisme et la magic. Les Pelites Religions de Pans.

Bqnnemere, Eugene Histoire des Cambismdes des Cevennes Paris, 1869.

Bouchard, H. E. Annette Taudet, ou les so?ciers du Poitou au XIX me siedc Pans, 1867.

Bourignon, Antoinette. La Parole de Dieu. Amsterdam, 1683

La vie ext incure Amsterdam, 1683

Bo urn on, dAOQOES. Ghroniqucs de la Lorraine. Nancy, 1838.

Brevannes, Roland L'Orgie Satanique Paris, 1904

Bkicaud, doANNY. J. K. Huysmans et le Satanisme. Pans, 1912.

Huysmans, occultists et magician Pans, 1913.

Un disciple de Cl de Samt-Mai tin. Paris, 1911.

Elements T Astrologie. Pans, 1911.

Pi erniers Elements d'Occultisme Pans, 1912.

Cannaert, d. B OUm . proces des sorcieres en Belgique sous Philippe II Ghent, 1847.

Catjeeynon et dAF, Drs. Les Messes Noires. Paris, 1905. (A valuable work )

Cauzons, Theodore de. La Magie et la Borcellerie en Fiance. 4 vols. Paris, 1900, etc. (A vory important study.)

Chabloz, Fritz Les sorciires neuchateloises Nouchatel, 1868.

Christian, Paul (Paul Pitots). Histoire de la Magie Paris, 1870

Closmadeuc, Dr. G- de. Les sorciers de Lament. Vanncs, 1885.

Deray, Dr. A. Histoire des sciences occultes. Pans, 1860.

De la Martini ere. Voyage des Pais Sepientnonaux. Pans, 1682.

Diseours sur la moit et condamnation de Chailes de Franchillon Baron de Chenevi&res , execute . . , pour Crime de Sortilege et de Magic. Paris, 1626.

Drazor, H. R. Histoire tragique de trois mayiciens qvi out accuse & la mart Mazamn en Italic. Paris, 1649.

Elven, Henry von. La Tradition. Vol. V. Pans, 1891.

Figuxer, Louis. Histoire du merveilleux dans les temps modernes. 4 vols. Paris, 1800-L

Fontenelle, Bernard le Bovier de. Histoire des oracles . Pans, 1687. (Often reprinted.)

Fournier, Alban. Epid&mie de Sorcellerie en Lorraine Nancy, 1803 .

Garinet, duLES. Histoire de la magie en France. Paris, 1818.

Garsault, F. Alexandre. Fails des causes cilebres et interessantes, Amster¬ dam and Paris, 1757.

Haron, Alfred. La Tradition . Vol. VI. Pans, 1892.

Histoire prodigieuse et espouvantable de plus de deux cens 50 sorciers et sorcieres emmenez pour leur estre fait et parfait leur pi oces au pm lenient de Tholoze. Pans, 1649.

Histoire veritable des crimes horribles commis & Boulogne par deux moynes » deux gentils - ho mines, et deux damoiselles , sur le S. Sac? ement de l'Au tel> quHls ont fait consumer cl une Cheure et ci un Oye, et sur trois enfants , qu'ils ont fait distiler sur la lambique. Pans, 1651

Histoire veritable de Vexicrahle Docteur Vamni , autrement nomme Luciolo, Paris, 1619.

dAF, Le Dr. Physonomie du vice Pans, circa 1903.

L’Amour secret. Pans, circa 1904.

Journal Tun bourgeois de Paris. Panthdon Litterairo. Paris, 1838.


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Ladamk. Dr Pioc&s crimmel de la derm re sorciere bralee d Geneve, le 6 avnl, 1652. Pans, 1888

Lavanchy, L’Abbe J. M. Sabbats ou synagogues sur les boids du lac d'Annecy. Annecy, 1885.

Lecanu, L’Abbe. Histoire de Satan 1861.

Lecocq, Ad. Les sovcters de la Beauce. Chartres, 1861.

Lemoine, Jules La Tradition. Yol. VI. Paris, 1892.

Les Enfers Lubnques. Pans, circa 1900

Les Gouvelles, Le Vicomte Hippolyte. Apparitions Tune dme du Purga - toire en Bretagne. 4th ©d. Pans, 1919 (An apparition which visitod Jeanne Audouis [Soeur Mane dos Sept Douleurs])

Les soicelenes de Henry de Valois , et les oblations qidil faisoit au Liable dans le hois de Vincennes 15 pp Pans, 1589

(This attack on Henry III has been i©printed several times ; as by Oimbor and Dangnon Archives cmieuses de V Histone de France. Vol. XII, and L’Estoile, Journal de Hem i III.

Lillie, Arthur The Worship of Satan in Modern France. 1896.

Louise, Th. Le la sorcellene et de la justice crumnetle d Valenciennes.

Valenciennes, 1861.

Magie. 2 vols Paris, circa 1904,

Matter, Jacques. Histoire critique du gJosticisme. 3 vols. Pans, 1828. Maury, Alfred. Histoire des religions de la Grece antique. 3 vols Paris, 1857—9

La Magie et VAstiologie. Pans, I860 (Often, reprinted.)

Monnoyer, Jules. La sorcellene en Hainan It . . avec analyse de prods

pom sortileges (1568-1683). Mons, 1886 Monseur, Eugene. Le folklore Wallon. Brussels, 1892 Roue, Paul. Causes sales. Pans, 1902.

Salverte, A J. E. B. de. E&sai su? la Magie. Brussels, 1817

Schure, Edouard. Les giandes Ugcndes de Finance. 19th ed. Paris, 1922,

Simonbt, L’Abbe Bcahte de la Magic. Paris, 1819.

Thuis, L’Abbe J ean-Baptiste. Tiaite des superstitions qui rcgardcnt les Sacraments. 3 vols. Pans, 1703. Reprinted 1 vols » 1741 , and 4 vols., 1777.

Tradition , La. Vol V contains Van El van’s Les Prods de sorcelkrie au moyen age. Pans, 1891. Vol. VI contains Harou’s Borders el so?cieres. Par Paris, 1892, also Lemomo’s Sorcellene conlempomine. Pans, 1892. Un Badaud (Paul Marnn) Coup d'ceil sur la Magie as XIXme siccle. Paris, 1891.

Coup d'ordl sur les thaumaturges et les mediums du XIXme sidle. Pans, 1891, Waite, Arthur Edward. Devil-Worship in Fiance. London, 1896.

FRANCE: SPECIAL CASES

Madeleine Bavenl

Yvelin, Dr. Eocamen de la possession des rehgieuses de Louviers. Paris, 1643. Besponce d VExamen de la possession des rehgieuses de Louviers , n.d.

Bicit veritable de ce qui s'est fait et passd d Louviers , touehant les rehgieuses possddees, n.d.

Le Gauffre. Exordsmes de plusieurs religieuses de la ville de Louuiers en presence de Monsieur le Pern?tender d'Evrcux et de Monsieur Le Gauffre Le Breton, Jean. La defense de la verite touehant la possession des religieuses de Louviers Evroux, 1643.

Delangle. Proems-verbal de Monsieur le PenUcncier d'Evreux. Paris, 1643. Trois questions touehant Vaccident arrive aux religieuses de Louviers , a.d.

Desmabets, PkRE. Histoire de Magdelaine Bavent , religieuse du monastic de Saint-Louis de Louviers avec sa confession gin dale et testamentaire, ou elle declare les abominations , impietez et sacrileges qu'elle a pratique el veu pratiquer , tant dans ledit monasUre gu*au Sabbat. Pans, 1652.

Humter, Discours thiologique sur Vhistoire de Magdelaine Bavent , Kvort, 1659.


340


BIBLIOGRAPHY


Morin, Louis Ren^i. Histoire de Louviers. Rouen, 1822

Bib on Essai historique sur Louviers, Rouen, 1836

Du JBois, L. Becherches archeologiques . . sur la Normandie . Pans, 1843.

Pierart, Z La magnetisms , le somnambulisms et lo spit Uuahsme dans V histoire. Affaire curicuse dss possedees de Louviers, Pans, 1858.

Mane Benoist , La Bucaille

Arrest donni par la chambre ordonee par le Boy au temps des vacations centre Mane Benoist Rouen, 1699.

Le tableau pritendu de la penitence ou le cat actiie de la devotion de soeur Marie Bucaille , accuse d'Stre sorciere Rouen, 1699.

Almanack historique , eccUsutshque ct politique du Diocese de Goutanccs pour Vannm 1774.

La Gadibre and Fere Guard

Juslificahon de demoiselle Catherine Gadicie 1731.

Factum pour Mane Catherine Gadi&ie contre Ic Fire J-B. Girard , jesuite , oik ee rehgieux est accuse dc Vavoir police par mi abominable Qmelimne aux plus enmineis eices de Vimpudicite. Hague, 1731.

Louis, Bishop of Toulon. Memoircs des fads qm se sont passes sous les yeux de M, VEveque de Toulon , tois de V engine dc Vaffaite du B, Girard, jismte, et de la Cadi Me. Toulon, 1731.

Chau don Beponse a l'ter it qm a pour Me “ Memoir es des fails, etc." Aix, 1731

Les veritablcs sentiments de Mademoiselle Cadi&re . . . Merits de sa propre main. Aix, 1731.

Boyer d’Aiguilles Conclusions de M . le procureur general du roi . . . au svjet de procas d'enire le P. Girard . . . . n.d.

Sentence de monsieur Vofficial de V&v&cM de Toulon, qui lenvoie le P. Girard aibsous des accusations . . . n.d.

Leonora Galigai

La Juste pvnition de Lycaon, Florentm , Marquis d'Ancre. Paris, 1617.

Arrest de la Cour de Pa dement contre le marechal d'Ancre et sa femme, prononce el execute & Pans le 8 juillet, 1617.

Harangve de la marquise d'Ancre, eslant sw Vechaffaut. 1617.

Bref rceit de ce qui s'est passe pour V execution ... de la marquise d'Auchic. Pans, J 617

Discours sur le mart de Elconor Galhgay, femme de Gonchme , matquts d'Ancre, Paris, 1617.

La Midie de la France , depemle en personne de la Marguerite d'Ancre Paris, 1617.

Louis Gaufridi and Madeleine de la Palud

Arrest de la Govr de Parlement de Provence, portant condamnation contre Messire Louis Gaufridi . . . convamcu de Magic el auires crimes abomm - ables . , . . Aix, 1611.

Confession faicte par Messire Lovys Gaufridi, presite en lAghsc Accoules de Marseille, prince de magiciens depuis Constantinople jusques & Paris. . . . Aix, 1611.

Fontaine, Jacques. Discovrs des marqves des sorciers . . . sur le subicct di procez de . . . Louys Gaufjridy. Paris, 1611.

Michaelis, PisRE. Histoire admirable de la possession el conversion d'une penitents seduiie par un magieien . . , . Pans, 1612.

Booms. Actes des exorcismes faits & la Samte-Baume . . , sur Louis Copeau , Magdeletne de la Palud et Louis Gauffndy. Bouai, 1613.

Russet, Franqois he. Lgs histoires tragiqves de nostre temps. Paris, 1614,

Lenormant ee C in hem o nt, J. Histoire veritable , memorable de ce qvi Pest passe sovs Vexorcisms de trois Jilles possidies es pais de Flandre ... on il est avssi traiU de la police du Sabbat Paris, 1623.

Gineste, Raoul, Louis Gaufridi et Magdeleine de la Palud. Paris, 1904. (A modern study which must be used with reserve.)


BIBLIOGRAPHY


341


Urbain Qrandier

Uvterrogatoire de maistr e Urbain Gtandier, pr$tic, curd de Saint Pterre-du- Marchi de Loudun , avcc les confrontations des reluj leases posscdces contre ledict Granchor. Pans, 1631

Artest et condamnation de mort contre Mai&tre Yrbam Grandier . . attaint

et convaincu du crime de magic. Pans, 1634.

Relation veritable de ce qui s'est passe d la mort du cure de Loudun , brusle tout vif le vendredi 18 aoust 1634

Tranqchlle, Pere Veritable 'relation des justes procedures observees au fmet de la possession des Ursulines de Loudun. Pans, 1634.

La demonomarne de Lodun, qui montre la veritable possession des relujieuses ursehnes et auiies secuheres. La Flrcho, 1634.

Duncan, Marc Di scours de la possession des rdig reuses Ursulines de Loudun. !634.

Recit veritable de ce qui s'est passe d Loudun contre M autre Ur bain Qrandier Paris, 1634

La Foucauldiere, M. be Les effets nnraculeux de Feghse romam sur les estranges et afitoyahles action des demons. Paris, 3635

Relation de la sortie du demon Balam du corps de la mere pneure des ursulines de Loudun. Paris, 1635.

Serin, P&re. Lettre tonic a Monseigneur VEveque de Poicticrs par un des Peres Jesuites qui exorciserent a Loudun Pans, 1635.

La glovre de St Joseph , victorleux des principaiix demons do la possession des Ursulines de Loudun. Le Mans, 1636.

Lucira, P&re M atitteu be Les ? nte?rcrgatoires et cxmcismc v nourellemcut faites d un demon sur le sujet de la possession des Jilles urcclltries de Loudun. Pans, 1637.

Sainte-Catherine Le grand pe< hour convert\j, represent e dans les dcuc estats de la me de M. de Queriolet Lyons, 1690.

Aubin. Histone des drabies de Loudun Amsterdam, 1693.

La Menard aye, M. be. Examen et discussion critique de Vhistoire des diables de Loudun. Pans, 1747

Histone abiegee de la possession des Ursula)res de Loudun. Paris, 1828.

Dumas, Alexandre. Grimes edebres. 6 vols Paris, 1839-41 . (A highly romantic treatment. This survey must he used with caution.)

Saoze, Charles. Etude medicaJnstorique sur les possedMs de Loudun. Pans, 1840

Leri cue, L’Abril Etudes sur les possession s en general el sur cede de Loudun en parltcuher. Paris, 1859

Lecue, Dr. G. Documents pour servir a Vhistoire medicate des posscdces de Loudun . Pans, 1874.

Ur bain Qrandier et les posscdces de Loudun. Pans, 1880.

Jean be Poitiers. Les diables de Loudun. Pans, 1878.

$. Jcan of Arc

Lenglet-D u fresno y, L’Abbis N His Imre de Jeanne d'Arc. Paris, 1753 -4,'

Guileert. Eloge Mstorique de Jeanne d'Arc. Rouen, 3 803.

Buchon, J. A. Ghronique et proves de la Pucelle d'Orleans. Paris, 1817.

Le Brun des Ch armkttes. HisUnre de Jeanne d'Atc. Paris, 183 7.

Qu ATREMpira ~Tl oissy, J A. Qvelques pieces curieuses sur le manage prtUendu de Jeanne d'Arc Paris, 1830.

Quicherat, J ules. Apergus nouveaux sur Vhislovre de Jeanne d'A rc. Paris, 1841 * Relation inddite sur Jeanne d'Arc. Orleans, 1879

Beauregard, B. be Hisloire de Jeanne d'A rc. Pans, 1847.

Michelet, 3 ules. Jeanne d'A rc. 1 ) ans, 3 853.

Brtere be Botsmont, Dr, A. De Vhallucination historique , ou etude . . . sur les voix et les revelations de Jeanne d'Arc. Pans, 3 863,

Vallet be Virtville. Proces de condamnation de Jeanne d'Arc. Paris, 1867,

O’Reilly, E. Les Deux Proc&s de condamnation . , , de Jeanne d'Arc, Paris, 1869.


342


BIBLIOGRAPHY


Robillard de Beaurepaire. Becherches sur le proc.es de condamnation de Jeanne d’Aic. Rouen, 1869.

Chevalier, A. Jeanne d'Arc. Bio-Bibliogt aphie Montbeliard, 1878. *

Luce, Simeon. Jeanne d'Aic d Domremy . Paris, 1886

Leo Taxil, G. J. P. and Fesch, Paul. Le Marty ? de Jeanne d’Arc. Pans, 1890.

Beaurepaire, Charles de. Notes sur les j ages et les assesseurs du proves de condamnation de Jeanne (T Are* Rouen, 1890.

La Vovtin and her Confederates

Dufey de l’Yonne. La Bastille , memones pour servir d VInstalle secrete. . . . Pans, 1833.

Clement, Pierre La police de Pans sous Louis XIV Paris, 1866.

Ravaisson, Francois Archives de la Bastille 17 vols. Paris, 1866-74

Montifaud, M de. Banne et la Voisin, Pans, 1878

Lotseleur, Jules La tiaint-Barthclemy, raff awe des poisons et Mme de Montespan, Pans, 1882

Jourdy, G. La Citadelle de Besangon . . . ou epilogue dc FAjfahe des poisons. 1888.

Legue, Dr. G. Med edits ct empoisoni terns an XV lime si dele. Paris, 1890.

Kars, Dr. L. Les empoisoniicments sous Louis XIV, Pans, 1898.

Funck-Brentano, F. Le dramc des poisons Pans, 1899.

Palladium

Bataille (Dr Hacks). Le dmble an XlXrnc siccle ou les ntysteres du Spiritisms. Pans, J 893.

Margiotta, D. Le Palladia me. Quite de Britan, Grenoble, 1895.

Vaughan, Miss Diana (i e Leo Taxil ) Le Palladium reyendre et hbre, Lien des gum pen luoijenens 'independants. Pans, 1895.

Memones d'une ex-palladisle Paris, 1896

La Jtestauratwn du Paganisms. Transition dccretee par le Sanctum Begnum , pour preparer Vetablissement du eulte public de Lucijer. Paris, 1896.

Su rlabR k che , K. La confusion de Satan, Paris, 1896.

Papuh Catholicisms , satamsme et oacultisme Pans, 1897.

Otiles de Mats

Me u ret, F C. Ann ales de Nantes Nantes, circa 1840

Petite histoire nantaise . . . du Bai bc-Bleue nuntais , ou du Maiechal de Betz. Nantes, 1841

Stendhal, H Beyle. Mc moires dlun touriste Paris, 1851.

Gubrahd, Arman d. Notice sur Utiles do Bats Rennes, 1855,

M'. arc he gay Merit authentiqve de V execution de (L lies de Bays Nantes, s.d.

Lacroix, Paul. Crimes Hranges. Le rnaieohal de Bays Biussols, 1855.

Bossard, L’Abbe E- Chiles de Bats . , dh Barbe-Bleuc. Paris, 1885.

PIuysmans, J. K. La Magic cn Poitou. Qilles de Paw. 1899.

The Templars

Messte, Pierre (Pedro Moxia). Les diverses lepons de Pierre Messie Paris, 1556.

Dupuy, Pierre, Trails conccrnant rhistoire de France. Paris, 1651.

Histoire de V abolition de V or dr a des Templiers. Paris, 1779.

Nicolai, Frederic. Essai sur les accusations mtentees aux Templiers et sur le secret de cct oidre. Amsterdam, 1783.

Gro cj velle, P. M emoires historiqu.es sur les T empties a Paris, 1805.

Raynouard, F J. M. Monumens histonques rclati/s d la condamnation des Chevaliers du Temple . Pans, 1813.

Key, JF Etude sur les Templiers Arcis-sur-Aubo, 1891.

Hamner, Joseph de. Memo ires sur deux eoffrets gnostiques du Moyen-Age du cabinet de M. le due de B lac as. Pans, 1832

Bargtnet, F. A. IHscours sur Vhistone civile ct religieuse de Vordre du Temple* Fans, 1833,


BIBLIOGRAPHY 843

Maillard de Chambcjre, C H Regies ct statute sea etb des Templiers Pans, 1841*

Havemann Geschichte des Ausgangs des Tempelherernordens , Stuttgaxt, 1840

Mignard, T. J. A. P Monographic du cojjrct de M 1c due de Rlacao Pans, 1852.

Darn ant, de. Lc prates des Tern pliers N T ime«, 1803.

Lois h leer, J uj.es La doctrine secrete de s Templiers Pans, 1872 Gaidoz, H. Note snr un statuette cn bronze r cpr escntaul un homtue asms les gambes cr or ices

Pjeiutz, Hans Dr. Qeheimlehre und Geheimstatuien des Temptlherren-Ordcns. Berlin, 1879

Entwicklung und U ntergang des Ternpelher re nor dens. Berlin, 1888. Jauquot, F Defense des Templiers. Pans, 1882 Curzon, Henri de La Regie du Temple Paris, 1886

Schottmuller. Der Untergang des Tempelordcns. 2 vols. Berlin, 1887. Lavocat Proces des frires ct de Vordre du Temple. Pans, 1888.

Naef, F. Recherches sur les opinions rehgieuscs des Templiers Nimes, 1890

Gmjelin Schuld oder Unschuld des Templer ordens. Still t-gart, 1893.

ITALY

AreJnvio storico italiano 4 sene Florence, 1842-85.

Bqffitg Gh eretici in Piemonte 1897

Bonni, F A’ Inquisizione e t Galahro-Valdesi Milan, 3 8C54.

Borellt Editti antichi e nuovi Turin, 1681

Borgia, Stefano. Mernome tutor iche dellapontiJitia ettfd di Benevento. Romo, 1769

CantF, Cesare. Gh Erctui d' Italia 3 vols Tunn, 1865-7.

Stona della Dtoccst dt Como 2 vols Como, 1829 31 Cappelletti. Le G/nese d 1 Italia. Venico, 1844 Carutti Stona della citta di Pi iierolo Pmerolo, 1893.

Castro, G. de. II Mondo Segteto 9 vols. Milan, 1804.

Arnaldo da Brescia. Leghorn, 1875.

Cattani, Fra. Discorso sopra la Euperstizione del! Arte Mag tea. Florence, 1567.

Cigogna, Strozze. Pelagii de gli incantl Vicenza, 1605 Corio, B, 1/ I stona di Milano. Padua, 1646.

Dandalo, O. T. La Signora di Monza. Milan, 3 855.

De Blasio, Prof. Abele. La Mata Vila a Napoli Naples, 3 905.

Dejob De Vinfluence du concile de Trade. Pans, 1884.

Folengo, Girolamo. Opus Macaromeum. 2 vols, Mantua, 1771.

Galvani. Osservaziom sulla Poena del Trovatori. Modona, 1839.

Giannone, P Istoria civile del Regno dt Napoli . 7 vols Naples, 1770. Gobi. Stona dt Ghiust .

Grimaldo, Constantine Disscrtatwne in tut si invcstiga quah start le operaziont che dcp.cndono della magia, Romo, 1751 Guicciardini, Francesco. Delle intone d’ Italia, . 8 vols. Florence, 1818.

Also ed. Resmi 5 vols. Turin, 1874 Lami. Lezioni <P anti child loseane. 2 vols Florence, 1766.

Leland, C. G. Etruscan Remains. London, 1892

Lettera dal Inqmsitore da Rarzalone alio lug in si tore de Novara , n.d.

Mastriani, F I Vermi 2 vols. Naples, 1877 Misleri deW Ingmsiztone Paris, 1847. (A catchpenny.)

Monnier, M. La Gamorra Paris, 1863.

MuRATonr, L A. Rerum itaMcarmn scrip lores. 28 vols Milan, 1723 ct seq . Oonf/muatio opera Jo. Mar. Tartim . 2 vols. Florence, 1748-80.

Antiquitates itahem rnedii aeui 6 vols. Milan, 1738.

Annali d ’ Italia. 5 vols. Milan, 1838 Mutinelli. Storia Arcana d' Italia. 4 vols. Venice, 3 858.

Mugi. Memorte ecclesiaslieh® q civili <k Cittu di Gastello, Romo, 1842-7,


844


BIBLIOGRAPHY


Niceforo, A. e Sighele. La Mala Vita a Roma. Rome, 1899.

& Italia barbara. Rome, 1898.

Novellis. Biografia Savighanese Turin, 184.0.

Ogniben, Andrea. 1 Gughchmti del secolo XIII. Perugia, 1S47.

Pecci, Giovanni Antonio. Stoma del vescovado della cittd di Siena. Lucca, 1748.

Pellet, M. Naples contcmpo? aine. Pans, 1894

Perini, O. Stoma delle Sociebd Scgrete 2 vols. Milan, 1863

Rossetti, Gabriele Disquisitions on the Antipup al Spirit . . its Secret Influence . ... 2 vols. 1834. (Translated by Miss C. Ward.)

Segni, Giovanni Battista. Del veio cnstiano contra V arte planetaria. Forrara, 1592

Silvagni, D La Gate e la Societd Romana nel XVIII e XIX secoli 2nd ed. 3 vols. Florence, 1882-5.

Successo di Qiustitia fatta nella cittd di Munich di sei scelerati strigoni. Genoa, 1641

Tocco Ij Eresia nel medio Evo. Florence, 1884.

Torricello. Dtalogo di Otto Lupano , nel quad si ragiona delle statute e miracoh do demoni e spmli Milan, 1540.

Turletti Storia di Sam gha.no

Ughellt. Italia sacra. 10 vols. Venice, 1721.

Vayra, P. Le Streghe nel Canarese (Gunositd di Storia Suhalpina). 1874.

Vizzini, A La Mafia. Rome, 1880.


NORTH AMERICA

A True though Sad Relation of Six Sea-men (Belonging to the Margaret of Boston) Who Sold Themselves to the Devil And we?e Invisibly Carry'd aivay. A pamphlet of 8 pages. N.D. Circa 1698.

Bancroft. History of the United States .

'Burr, George Lincoln Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases. New York, 1934

The Witchcraft Persecutions . Umv. of Pennsylvania Translations and Reprints Vol TTI. No 4. Philadelphia, 1903.

Calef, Robert The Wonders of the Invisible World . Boston, 1700.

Drake, Samuel G. Annals of Witchcraft, 1869.

Green, Samuel Abbott. Groton in the Witchciaft Times. Cambridge, Mass , 1883

Hutchinson, John. History of the Province of Massachuset's Bay

Kittredoe, G L. Notes on Witchcraft. American Antiquarian Soe. Pro¬ ceedings. N.S. xvui. 1906-7.

Mather, Cotton. The Wonders of the Invisible World. Boston, 1693.

Mather, Increase RemarJcable Providences, Boston, 1683-4.

Neal, D. History of New England London, 1747.

Nbvins, W. S. Witchcraft in Salem Village. Boston, 1892.

Poole, W. F. Salem Witchcraft. Boston, 1869.

Taylor, John, The Witchcraft Delusion m Colonial Connecticut , Now York, n.d.

IJpiiAM, Clement Wentworth. History of Salem Witchcraft . 2 vols*

Uihtam, Caroline E. Salem Witchcraft m Outline. Illustrated. 3rd od. Salem, Mass., 3 891.

(This is mainly a compendium of C. W. Upharn’s larger work.)

Wtnsor, J The Literature of Witchcraft in New England. 1896. (Reprinted from Proe. Am. Antiq. Soc., 1895.)


GERMANY

Buohtnger. Julius Echter von Melpresbnmn,

DrHOKKOFF. Die Waldenser im Mittelalter. Gottingen, 1851.

Dieffenbaoh, Johann. Dcr Hexenwahn vor und nach der Glaubensspaltung in Deutschland. Mainz, 3 886.


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Duhe Siellung des Jesuiten in der deutschen Hexenprozessen. Freiburg,, 1900

Duringsfel'd Das fcsfhche Jaltr Leipzig

Flu gel, G. Mani> seine Indite mid seine He hi (pen. Leipzig, 1862.

Gaar, G- S. J. Ghnsthihe Anted nachsl dim Sehederhaufen, worauff der Letch net i i j lance llenaim , cruet duichs Sekvei t hingmichtetm Zmihcnn 9 den 2 Itcn J mi An. 1740, answer dci Stud! Winztniuj , ceibrennct teoiden, an etn Zahu^tch tci rammeLes Yolk gel ha n . . . . (Contemporaxy and important.)

GlatiblihgiIT, Otto. Die Schrcclccnsj a me von Lindheim . Stuttgart, 18S6.

Handbuch da deutschen Mytlioloqie

Hansen, Joseph. Qucllcn and Undn’sHchimaen zur Ge.schielite dcs licxcn - wahtift und dtr FLcxcn^o jolgung mi Miltduh c. Bonn, 1901. (A valuable and xni}*ot sent study )

Helbing. Die Tortur, thselndde do Volt tie 2 vola Berlin, 1902.

Historia tiayicu adolescent is pm uooil **, Ji'mcntt ah Ending. (Widfon Lv Ins confowsor, a Jesuit father. ()o i b n„*t. Oiopp Vo] SI, |>p. 287, sag.)

Horst, Georg Conrad. iJamomo^uq, v, od« t (kmhajiie dcs Gtaubcns an

Zauboxi nad daanonisthc 'WtimUr. tjaukioil 2\ols, 1818.

Horst, Victor Zaubej InhUoilicl'

Kessler. Alum Forschunyen xdn i ih t incmtchfinsche Itchy uni. 2 yds. Borbr, lvS9„ sqa

Kleiner Bed rug zur Gcschicldc dcs Iltruiuxu us tub 10 Jahrhitndert. 2 nor, 1830.

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Krone Fi a Dolcuio und the l J ahne>o Lm piug, IS! 1

Lehmann. Ahertjhmbe mid Zaubcu i 8’.rut ■ 5 *, 1908

Leitsciitjh, Friedrich i> 11 - IJciftuyc zar (fvschnhte des licxoiv'csais in Frau Lot 11a inberg, 1883

Der lelzte Hecnvpmccss in Deutschland Pinup 1819.

Losciiart, Osw vld, O.ll.P. Die irahnatfi, tool •inasiandhehc Naehmld run deni Zujtdlc* so das j muff rm<> tele hlostu V ntozcll Kachst W a rzhuuj hetroffen » retfasset rm Jahr J74 9 1749

Meyer, Ludwig. Die Pen ode do i/nv nju'on p

Muller, Karl. Die IVahh nst r und ‘thru cinzdncn (Iruppcn his zmn A idling dcs 14 Jahrlvun.dvrts . Gotha* SK80.

Oohsenbein. Aus dmn Sehwozer Volkslchi h dcs X V lalirhand rfs. 1881.

Paulus. Hcxcntvuhn mid Jiceenpiozess in 10 Jahrh. Freiburu, 1910,

Kapp, Ludwig. the fJvxenprotosc vnd ihre (Joyner mis Tytvt.

Keinsrurg, O. P. von. Parana Landes und VolLskunde ties Konrjnuhs Bayern . Munich, 18(50-450.

Puetzler. Ii exenprozesse ■/ n Bayern . S -1 it 1 mi i i, 1890

Sc herr, 0 n<umnctsehlaqe uml D ndonon Vol I? sub hie lelzlc Ft ichshvre,

Hchin DLEU. Der -1 btrglauhc des JM itfi fatft is. 1 Ji’chIru, 1858.

Sour eider. Die fie ten punu.se ini Bi organ.

Schumacher, II A. Die Sftdtngct , Belt ray zur Gcschtehtc der Wesenmarschcn. Bremen, 18(55.

SiLHERSTERN, August. Denlcsaulen itn (kin lie der ( ‘vltur und hi tenant. "Vienna, 1879.

Sqldan-Heppe Uesehiehfc der Uexenprozessr. 2 voh. Stutlgart, 1880.

(Soklatps faruouH wc»rk “ non gearbitel von Dr. Fbunneh II(*ppo,**)

Stechc, BtGHU.PK. Die Alien dcs Jctzcrprocesses nchst dem Dejeusorhem. Basel, 1901.

Steiner (Icsefuehtc der Stalls Du'hurtj. Darnmhdt, 1820.

Trummer, C. Vantage, hher Tartar, Hexen rerjo/gungen, Vchwigcrkhte , etc., ia Der hamhurgisehen Itcchlsgcschiehte. Vol. J.

- Volk, 3dt. Ilcxcn in der Jutndmgtel Orteuan und Jtciehstadi OJJenlmrg.

Witzsoiiel, iVu gust. Siitcn , Sngcn, tend Gvemtiehc aus Thuriugen. Vienna, 1878.

WunderharVteJtc Gehehnnvssen der Zauherey. 44 o. 1030.

Zingerle, Ignaz, Du. Barbara Pachl&in , die Sarnthaler Hexe. Innsbruck> 1858.

Z *


346


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INDEX


Abraham, Statue of, 183 Accommodation theory, false, 203 Ad Abolendam , Bull of Lucius III, 17 JEUan, 11M58 iEncas sacrifices to Night, 158 iEtrus, 158

African witchcraft, 163 Agrippa, Cornelius, 103, 296 Akiba, Rabbi, 190 Albertus Magnus, Blessed, 64 Albigenses, 17, 27, 28, 62, 87 Alchemist , The , 304-5 Aldomstoo, 17 Aldum, Count, 26 Alexander III, 17,18 Alexander IV, 13, 43, 64 Alphonsus , King of Arragon (Greene), 287

Alphonsus Liguori, S., 41, 08-9, 92, 126, 203

Alphonsus Rodriguez, S J., 126 Ambrose, S., 14, 117, 170, 180, 224 Anania, Lorenzo, 128,167 Andreas, S., of Rinn, 162, 197 Anne Catherine Emmerich, 126 Antony, S. (the Great), 202 Apollodorus, 201

Apuleius, Lucius, 111, 116, 184, 296 Aquila of Pontus, 190 Aquinas, S. Thomas, 45, 64, 91, 128, 176, 296 Arab witches, 5 Arotoous, 202

Ariborto, Archbishop of Milan, 16 Aristophanes, 98, 200 Aristotle, 296 Arnauld Amaury, 18 Arnobius, 99

Arrows, Divination with, 182-3 Asceticus, heretical treatise, 22 Asmodeus, 190

Asperges, mock, at witches’ mass, 154 Athanasius, S., 224 Augustine of Hippo, S., 13, 64, 100, 128, 176, 180, 184, 296 Aupetit, Pierre, 149,152 Azor, S.J., Juan, 92

Bacon, Lord, 65 Bagnolenses, 17 Balaam, 174, sqq.


Balac, 174, sqq,

Baltimore, Second Council of, 61 Balzac, Honore de, 263 Bancroft, Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury, 229-30 Baptism at the Sabbat, 84-5 Barbagli, Domenica (ecstatic), 126 Barrett, Sir William, 255, 264, 268 Basil, S , 180, 224 Basque Sabbats, 112-13, 115 Basques, Les , 311

Bavent, Madeleine, 87, 149, 153, 155, 157

Becquet, Isabel, 81 Boghards, 17

BeMiten, The Prmce of, 198-200 Belon, Jean, 149 Belphegor, 307 Benedict XII, 65 Benedict XIV, 69, 92, 223 Benedict, S., 117,222-23 Benedict, S., Medal of, 240 Benedictus (a sorcerer), 148 Bernard of Como, 120, 129 Berry, Mr. George F., 264 Resan<?on, The Holy Winding Sheet . of, 224

Besinnot, Ada, 266 Billuart, O.P., Charles Ren6, 92 Bmsheld, Bishop Pierre, 61, 94 Birth of Merlin , The , 287, 306 Bishop, Bridget, 76, 146 Black book or roll of witches, 85-6 Blackstone’fl Commentaries, 63 Blessing of the Waters (Epiphany), 220

Elocksbiirg, The, 114,115 Blockula, 121

Blood used to seal compacts, 67-8 Bocal, Pierre, 149

Bodm, Jean, 1, 65, 94, 114, 123, 145, 157, 296

Bogomiles, 17,22, 23, 27 Boguet, Henri, 5, 6, 58, 94, 97, 113, 116, 117, 122, 130-3, 139, 141, 145,157 Bois, Jules, 311 Bonacina, Martino, 92 Bonaventura, S., 64, 91,128 Boulanger, General, 264 Boulld, Thomas, 160


347


848


INDEX


Boungnon, Antoinette, 70, 83 Boumement, Abbe, 150 Bouvier, Jean-Baptist, Bishop of Le Mans, 92 -3 Boylo, Robert, 65 Brey, Abbe Charles, 240-3 Brjcaud, Joauny, 28 Bngnoh, 96

Broomstick, The Witches’, 121-4 Browne, Sir Thomas, 65 Brut as of At ha, 302 Bulls doalmG; with sorcery, 4 6 BuroliarJ oi Worms, 100, 207 Burner, Tmobaat and Joseph, The Possession of, 238-43 Burroughs, George, 84, 147 BusooibaiMi, H.8 , Hermann, 105 Busiest, Ur. F. G , 27 E lifts y d A inborn, 305

C , SAW, 256 CU smvi-i, S , ofc Ados, 14

Ciin’uM, 2?

Cant: lA«' *•/“, 301 2 O d\i 1 , “-5

C iJmei 5 iii'i 5m [)om, 133 (luuio »r u , 62, 78

CWidl * 5 1.1 i-k, unod at Sabbat, 139 Cn ud 1 o , I 6S

Cm mo, flic Mcojchoo, 17 C.irpoeiuLvh 22

(Jnmvrg SPA iflva, 267 I

Carrie 1 *, elan ha., a Salem witch, 124, i 15

Cmteffioj Pencenrnicc, The, 279 Caste! hz. Co 267

Castro. Al toil so do, 91, 128, 167 CaMuiri, 17, 23, 27, 37 Uas lie .*io’f be iJobkh 3 70 ChMicnn j on Xirvg S,, 126 (Jatheri jo <>f Siena.* S , 45, 126 Charles IX. of Frame, causes black maws so bo m*ef-e-mod, i4 8 Chart*-i da So no, BL, 126 Charm ns. Mad. one do, 150 ( Losu-e, Iheri'O du, MS Cincture of 8, JVhndc t, 82-3 Clement X 1, 63 CUmcr!.. -v Alexandria,, 99 (}oek< run , Sabbat oiids at, 117-18 CMC# S., (26 College, Stephen, 298 CoSky, Ai*< hdoueon, 260 Collm do Plancy, 158 Coman, Widow, 76 Co neonw, cosos, 17 (JoiiHolamontum, Manichiean rito, 23 Cord met of witches with the Devil* 65-70, 81

Cook, Florence, 260 Cord of S. Francis, 82 Cornelius, Pope, 207


Cornelius a Lapide, 176

Covens, number of members in, 40 ;

organization of, 83 Cox, Julian, 5, 123 Craddock, Mr ,267 Craisson, Mgr., 92 Crespot, Pore, 128, 167 Crookes, E.R.S , Sir William, 12R 246, 260, 268

Cross, Recovery of the True, 56 Cullender, Rose, 76 Custom of the Count?*/, The, 305 Cybole, Tlio nte.s of, 201-2 Cvpnan of Antioch, S , 69 Cyril, S , of Jerusalem, 221 Cyril, S„ of Aloxandna, 182

D’Abadie, Jeannette, 81, 84 Dame Dobson, 302-3 Da ice, at the Sabbat, 189-43 ; Re- lupous, 110, at Seville (Los Seises), 110- l Dan.euH, Lambert, 58 liaijmg, Thomas, 226 Jia; ioI, J<>hn, 82 1 80 Dave ipori. brothers, 259 J) u id, Abbe, 350 Davies, Sir John, 123 Dunne, Mrs., 266 Deborah (Debbora), Song of, 175 Deo, Dr. John, 227

Do Lanero. 58, 63, 87, 94, 98, 13 8, 120, 328, 141, 141, 149, 150, 151,

I 53. 1 54, 159

Dolrio, SJ, Martin Anton, 71, 93, 116, 187, 296 Domaratus, 800

Doirtdike, Elizabeth, 81, 294, 299 Demosthenes, 200 Dcnobilibnr, 149 De Rebus Unmet® , . 92

Devil, a man* Grand Master of the Sabbat, 7 ; theological teaching concerning* 51-4 ; m animal disguise at Die Sabbat, 134-7 Devil's Charter, The , 307-8 Devil is cm A ss, The * 807 Diaiiio cult, imaginary, 43 Dido and Affine cm, 302 DmarchuH, 200 Diocletian, 3 3, 22, 86 Dionysus, The rites of, 201-2 DjoHcoridoH* 158

Divine, men who have claimed to bo, 55-7

Divining Cup of Joseph, The, 183-4 Domitian, 55

Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan, 235, 255, 268

Dry den, 303 Dualistio religion, 21 Ducrot, General, 245




INDEX


349


Duke and No Duke , 287 Duke of Gmse , The , 301 Du#y, Amy, 76

Dupanloup, Mgr., Bishop of Qrloans, 244-5

D’TJrfey, Tom, 78

Echalar, Juan cle (sorcerer), 159 Edolme, Guiliaumo, 66 Edmonds, John Worth, 259 Egbo sorcerers, 136-7 Eglmion, William, 60, 260, 262 Egyptian, belief in possession, 198- 200; magicians and Moses, 59 Eicher, S.J., Father, 241 Elbel, O.F M , Benjamin, 92 Eld red, Charles, 261 Eleusmian Mysteries, 44 Ehch, Philip Ludwig, 143, 145, 296 Ehezar, 194-5 Elipandus of Tolido, 15, 56 Ely mas the sorcerer, 193 Empress of Morocco , The (Duffett), 302

Endor, The Witch of, 176-84 Ephrera Syrus, S., Doctor Ecclesiso, 224

Ermanno of Parma, 17 Erto (medium), 266-7 Etheridge, 8 J., Father John, 259 Euehites, 22 Eugenius IV, 83 Eunpidos, 201-2 Evagrius Scholasticus, 100 Executions, Last European, 46 Exorcism, The nto of, 209—19 ; A shorter, 220 ; Baptismal, 220 Exorcists, Anglican canon concerning, 230-3 ; Attempted by Puritan ministers, 232 ; Minor Order of, 207 ; Ordination of, 207-9 Ezmh of Kolb, 27


Fabre dos Essarts, 28 Fair Ma/id of the I mi, The , 305 Falso Christs, 57 Familiars, animal, 40, 41 Farnabie, Thomas, 159 Fasemurn, 98-101 Fatal Jealousie, The , 300-1 Faust (Ooetho), 103 Faust Legend, Dramatic versions of the, 280-4

Feasting at the Sabbat, 144-5 Felix of Urgel, heretic, 15 Fian, Doctor, and his confederates, 72, 85, 88, 116, 124, 139, 142 Fiard, Abb6, 150 Filliucci, S.J., Vincenzo, 92 Fox family (mediums), 256-9 Frtar Bacon and Friar Bungay , 285-6


Francis, Elizabeth, 102 Francis of Assisi, S., 125 Francis Xavier, S , 126 Fugairon, Dr , of Lyons, 28

Gall ic in mm, 117 Garrison, William Lloyd, 250 Gasparm, Agenor do, 263 Gaufndi, Louis, 72-3, 82, 84-5, 116, 144, 149, 155 Gazauens, 37 Gemma Galgani, 3 26 Gerard Majolla, S., 126, 240 Gorson, 65 Gesner, 158

Gil, of Santarem, Blessed, 69 Giles Co? ey y 310

Gxlles do Rais, 33, 34, 36, SO, 148, 160 Glanvill, 65

Glossarimn Eroticum, 99 Gnostic, The first, 193 Gnostic Church of Lyons, 29 Gnostics, 20

“ Goats, The ” (secret society), 136 Godolmann, Johann, 297 Gorros, Johann Joseph, 94, 127 Gothosealch of Fulda, heretic, 15, 16 Gottardo of Marsi, 17 G randier, Ur bam, 73 Greek heroes. The cult and relics of, 30, 31

Greeley, Horace, 259 Gregory VII, 8., 19 Gregory IX, 20 Gregory XIII, 83 Gregory XV, 65 Gregory, S., of Nyssa, 178, 180 Gregory of Nanzianzus, S., 99, 224 Grilland, Paul, 94, 122, 127, 128, 145, 167, 297

Grimoiros, 11, 68

Guardia, El santo Nino do la, 162 Guazzo, Francesco Maria, 65, 81-9, 95, 128, 137, 141, 144, 145, 167, 297

Guibourg, Abb<5, 89 (and his eon- fedoratos), 150, 153, 160 Guldonstubbe, Baron do, 203 Guthrie, Helen, a Forfar witch, 26

Haro, Robert, 259 Harold of Gloucester, 162 Hamnett, Samuel, 229-30 Hartley, Edmund, 227 Hay don, Mrs. (medium), 259 Heiiogabalus, 55 Henry IT of England, 16 Hcraclius, 56 Herod Agrippa I, 55 Herodas, 98-9 Hilarion, S. f 202

Hiuom&r, Archbishop of Rhoims, 15


350


INDEX


Hippolytus, 185 Holland, Mrs (medium), 266 Holt, Lord Chief Justice, 102 Home, Daniel D. (medium), 125, 246, 259, 263 Homer, 201

Hopkins, Matthew, 4, 102 Hoi ace, 296 Horner, Elizabeth, 76 Hosts, as used at witches’ mass, 15, 155, 156-7; Stolon from

churches, 156 Hugh of Lincoln, S , 195 Humihati, 17 Hush, Mr Cecil, 267 Hutchinson, Bishop Francis, 101-2, 109

Huysmans, J. K., 29, 151, 264 Hydosville, Home of Fox family, 256-7

Hydromantia, 184

If It Be Not Good, The Divel is in it, 306-7

Ignatius Loyola, S., 126 Illfurt, Case of possession at, 238-43 Incense, noxious woods burned for, in witches’ rites, 156 Incubi, 89-103 Indian-Queen, The , 301 Innocent III, 18 Innocent TV, 20

Innocent VIIT, 12, 43, 44, 88, 94 Institutions Theologies Mysticce (Sell ram), 93

Ireland, Witchcraft in, 25 Isidore of Seville, S., 13

James the Fourth (G roono), 286 Jameot, Basque deity, 42 Jerome, S., 179, 182, 202 Jetzar, Brother, a Jacobin of Berno, 4 Joan, S., of Arc, false theories con¬ cerning, 33, 34 J ohanmtes, 148 John XXII, 64 John Chrysostom, S., 13 John George II, Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, 24

John of the Cross, S., 45, 126

Jonson, Ben, 296

Joseph of Cupertino, S. 9 126-7

Josophins, 17

Jovio Paolo, 103

J udas Iscariot, 21

Juno Lacima, 200

Justm Martyr, S., 224

Juvenal, 159, 296

Kembtor, C.P.R., Adrian, 172, 195 JEChlysti, 56

Khonsu, god of Thebes, 198-200


Khosroes (Kliusran) II of Persia, 56 Kincaid, J ohn, 7 4 King Henry VI (Part II), 287-9 r Kluski, Franek, 266 Kosem (magician), 186 Kyteler, Damo Alice, 25, 103, 124, 158

Laban and Jacob, 1S6 Ld-Bas (Huysmans), 151 Lactantms, 99-100, 224 Lancashire Witches, The (Ainsworth), 309

Lancashtte Witches, The (Dibdm), 309 Lancashire Witches , The (Fitzball), 309-10

Lancashire Witches , The (Shadwell), 296-9, 303

Langton, Walter, Bishop of Coventry, 138

Laruatus (-crazed), 201 Late Lancashire Witches, The , 292-6 Loaf, Mr. Horace, 265 Lor ollet, Abbe, 150 Louiirn, Adriano, 8 Loo IV, Pope, S , 193 Leo XIII, 28, 90, 220 Levitation, 124-7, 246 Liber Paimtentiahs of 8. Theodore, 6, 88, 134

Life of Mother Shipton, The, 299-300

Lodge, Sir Oliver, 268

Louis XIV, 160, 161

Love for Love, 80, 303-1

Lucan, 296

Lucifenans, 23

Lucius 111, 17

Luc,key Chance, The , 303

Lunacy, Induced by Spiritism, 253-6

Lusty J u vent us, 279

Luther, Martin, 231

Macbeth, 289-90 Machiavolli Nicoolo, 187 Magdalena do la Cruz, 69-70 Magico Prodigioso, El, 310 Maiolo, Simon, 63

Malleus Maleficarurn, 24, 63, 94, 127, 129* 160, 296

Manasses, King of Juda, 181 Hand (nans, 148 Mandragola. La, 187-8, 197 Mandrakes, 187-8 Mani, 21, 22

Mama, Roman goddess, 201 Mamcheos, 14, 15, 17, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27, 32, 36, 148 Mankind, 279 Manlius, 103

Margaret of Cortona, S., 202 Mana Maddalena do Pazzi, S.* 126 Marion, Elio, 62, 78


INDEX


351


Mark, The Devil’s, 70-5, 89

Martin, S , of Tours, 14

Ma#y of Nimmeqen , 281-6

Masks worn at the Sabbat, 136—7

Masque of Queens, 296, 304

Mass, mock, 87

Mass of S. Secairo, 150-7

Mass, Witches’, origin of, 42 -3 ;

liturgy of, 145-57 Mnteinus, Julius Firmicus, 99 Mather, Cotton, 83, 145 Maurus, 0 S B , S , 223-1 May-fires, 112

Mazzolmi, O P , Sylvester, 142, 296 Medal of S Benodmt, 222-3 Melamcthon, 103, 128 Menander (heretic), 193 Merry Demi of Edmonton , The , 306 Messalians, 22

Miehaelis, Sebastian Von. , 157 Middleton, Thomas, 9, 108 Midsummer bonfires, 43 Mhdsumma -Night's Dream , 287 Mdler (medium), 261- 2 Missal, Devil’s, 87 Mouta .1 ms, 56

Montospan, Madame do, 160 More, George, 227-9 Moses, 59, 173

Moses, William Stanton, 125, 259 Mother Bumble, 280 Mousseaux, Gougonot des, 94 Munmngs, Mother, 102 Murray, Miss M. A., 31, 32, 33, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 75 Mystery Plays, 276-8 Mystique Divine , La (Ribet), 90, 110

Naasseni, 21

Name given to witches, 85 NaucUS, Gabriel, 297 Neo-Gnostic Church, 28 Neri, vS Philip, 44 Nevillon, Silvam, 84 Newes from Scotland , 9 Nxcandor, 158, 201 JSJieophones Calixtus, 100 Nicetas, 99

Niemvon, u a notabill sorcores,” 7, 85 Nidor, O P , John, 94, 296 Niyramansir, 278-9 Nipple, Supernumerary, 75-7 Norbort, K, 39, 49, 50*

North-Berwick Kirk, 116, 121, 138, 142

Nuraa, Second King of Romo, 184

Odour of Sanctity, 45

(Edipus (l)ryden and Boo), 301

Ointment, Flying, 6

Old Wives' Tales , The (Poole), 286-7

Ophites, 21,148


Origen, 180

Orlando Em ioso (Greene), 2S6 Orthodox Eucharist, 147-8 0 scutum in fame, 137-9 Ovid, 296

Owen, Rev. G. Vale, 255, 264-5 P., Stanislava, 267

Pal Indian Temple (Tempi um Palladi- cum), discovered in Rome, 152—3 Palla.dino Eusupia, 267 Palmer, John, a wizard, 76 Palud, Madeleine de la, 82, 149, 154, 157

Paolo do Caspan, O P., Fra, 119 Pasagians, 17 Patau in i, 17

Paterson, a pricker, 74-3

Paul, S„ 193-4, 206-7

Paul 1 , Pope S , 193

Paul of iho Cross, S , 126

Pauheiam, 17, 23

Pauper, Marcolline, 145-6

Pausarmu!, 1S7

Pauvres do Lyon, 17

Pax, burlesqued by witches, 155

Peach, Father Fdward, 23 4 5

Peek ham, Sir George, 224

Peooraro, Nino, 267

Pelagms 1, 14

Pena, Francesco, 127

Ponthous, 200

Perab'o, 21

Peter Damian, S., 128, 167

Peter, S ,191-3

Peter of Verona, 8,, 17

Pot.or Parenzo, S., 17

Peters, Mr. Vout, 266

Potromus Arbiter, 99, 109, 187, 296

Pluedra, 20 L

Philip 1 of Franco, 19

Philip Non, S , 44, 126

Philip the Deacon, 191

Philippi, a medium healed at, 206-7

Picard, Maturin, 150

Pike, Albert, of Charleston, 8

Piper, Mrs , 266

Pius IX, 246

Plautus, 201

Pliny, 118, 159, 296

Plutarch, 200

Poirier, Possession of Heleno-Jose¬ phine, 243-'8

Ponzmibio, Giovanni Francesco, 127, 166, 167

Porta, Baptista, 296 Possession of devils in the Gospels, 191,203-6

ProJati, Antonio Francesco, 148 Prickers of witches, Official, 74-5 PriRoilhan of Avila, heretic, 14 Propertius, 296


352


INDEX


Prosecution of witches by the Ccesars,

11 , 12

Protestant exorcism, 232-3 Prudentius, 117 Prynne, William, 282 Psychic Science, British Col logo of, 235-8

Pythagoras, 200

Quintus Fulvius, 200

Raimond Roeco, 126

Ramoses II, 198-9

Raphael, S., 190

Read, Mary, 76

Red Book of Appin, 86-7

Regmo of Prurn, 121

Reid, Thom, 7

Relies, The cultus of, 31

Religion of the Manlchees, The, 27

Remy, Nicolas, 118, 128, 167

Richet, Professor Charles, 268

Robert 1 of Franco, 25

Robert le Diahle, 310

Robejfc ol Bury S. Edmunds, 162

Robinson, Anno, 4

Roehohlanohe, Abbe do, 150

Rosary, Tho Holy, 82

Rothe, Anno, 260

Rousseau, Abbe, 158

Rowley, William, 11

Rudolph, S., of Berne, 162

S., Willy (medium), 267 Sabazius, 111

Sabbat, Dances at tho, 139-43 ; De¬ rivation of name, 111; Feasting at, 143-5 ; Liturgy of, 145-7 ; Methods of travelling to tho, 118-33; Music at the, 142-3; When hold, 111-6 ; Whero hold, 113-7

Sacrament, Diabolical, of Salem witches, 146-7

Sacrifice, of animals, 158-60; of children, 88-9, 160 ; of the God, hypothetical, 33-6 S. Patrick for Ireland, 305-6 Salmanticenses, 91-2, 145 Samuel, Ghost of, 178-81 Saturday, why no Sabbat held on* 116 Saul, 202 *

Sawyer, Elizabeth, 58-9, 76, 102, 290-2, 308

Scapular, Carmelite, 82 Sceva, The seven sons of, 194 Schott, S.J., Gaspar, 94 Schrara, O.S.B., Dominic, 93 Schronck-lSTotzing, Baron von, 267 Scot, Reginald, 69, 88, 123 Secret Commonwealth, The (Robert Hink), 71


Seneca, 296 Set!nans, 21

Seven Champions of Christendom, The, 287

Seville Cathedral, Ritual dance at, 140-1

Shad well, Mis , 301 Shad well, Thomas, 75, 296-9 Shrill \ oico of ghosts, 177-8 Sill6, Chiles do, 148 Silvester of A hula, 12S, 107 Simon Abelos, 162 Simon Magus, 20, 191 Simon, S , of Trent, 162 Smistran, Ludovico Maria, 65, 71, 78, 95, 161

Sir Chjomon and Sir Clamydes, 287 Sisto da Siena, 128, 167 Slade (a medium), 260 Soi? de Folic, Un (revue), 151, 311 Somers, William, 227-30 Sophomsba (Lee), 301 Sophoni&ha (Mansion), 305 So?cti?e Gamdic, La, 313 Sore lire, La (Dupotlt-M5r6 and Du* cagne), 310

Sorciere, La (Sardou), 311

Souhs, Lord William, of Hormitago, 7

Sporomstas, 17

Spina, Bartolomeo de, 119, 128, 167, 297

Spiritism, Condemned by tho Catholic Church, 268-9

Spiritism, Some present-day activi¬ ties of, 264-5

Spiritistic churches and assemblies, 264-5, 266

Spiritualism, its present-day moan¬ ing, 254-5

Sprengor, James, vide Malleus Male - ficarum

Stapleton, Thomas, 16 Starchio, Nicholas, 227 Statius, 178 Stearao, John, 102, 108 Stewart, Francis, Earl of Bothwell, 8 Stewart, Mrs Josio K., 266 Strabo, 184, 201 Stridtheckh, Christian, 115 Sturapf, Potor-Paul, Bishop of Stras- burg, 241

Suarez, S.J., Francesco, 52, 54, 68, 91 Summis des'iderantes, Bull of Innocent VIII, 12, 43, 88 Symons, Arthur, 141

Tacitus, 296

Tamburmi, S J , Thomas, 92 Taneholin and his anarchy, 36-40, 49 Targum of Jonathan, 190 Tartarins, 17

Tartary, Wizards in, 59, 60


INDEX 358


Tea-loaves used in divination, 185 Tempest, The, 287, 289 Templars, The, 20,138,117-8 Tmphers, Les, 310 Teraphim, 189-90 Teresa, S, 120 Tertullian, 180

Theodore, S, of Canterbury, G, 88,13-1 Thoodoret, 99,170, 179 Theodosius T \, 23 Thurston, S .1., father, G3 Thyraus, 8 J., Hermann, 93 Tibullus, 99, 29G Titivillus, 279-80

Toads, associated with Sabbat, 158-9 Tobias, 190-1

Tomson, Mrs Elizabeth A, 200 Trappohn (Jrnluto Principe, 287 Travers-Sinith, Mrs, 205, 207 Tnal oj Witchcraft, The (John Boll), 70-1

Tuiloncs, Soanoo at, 203 Turrocremata (Torquomada), Juan do, 128

Two Noble Kinsmen, The, 278 Tymnmck Love, 301

t

V„ Mr., 207

Valentino (medium), 201 Valontiruaul, 22 Valontiman 1F, 22 Valontnuan 111, 23 Valontmians, heretical soot, 29 Valontinus, heretic, 29 Vampire, Le, 310 Vaudois, 20, 37, 87 Vaughan, S.d., Bernard, 251-5 Vearacombo, Mr., 200 Vergil, 170,290 Veronica Guiliaiu, 8., 120 Verrall, Mrs., 260


Vostmenis worn at witches’ mass, 153-1

Victor III B1 (I)esiderius), 224 Mo (laetani, Tommaso do, 128, 107 Visigoth code, 30 Voism, Catherine la, 89,100 Voism, Marguerite la, 153 Voodooism, 20,15s, 103

Walhurga, S , 111 -2 Wat louses, 17, 87 Walpurgis-N add, Djo, 111 Ward, Seth, Bishop of hbiotoi, 233 Wctnto] Ojjtwi, The, 287 Woir, Major Thomas, 31-0,320 Wonlutm, Jane, 102 Weiner, K , ol Oberwosel, 102 Weston, 8 J , William, 221-5 Wojpi, John, 103,290 Wilde, Oscar, Alleged script by, 207 8 William of Puns, hoy martyr, 102 William, >S., of Norwich, 102 Williams, Mrs (medium), 201 Willibrod, 8., llittia! at shmio of, 110 Winoi, 203

iriw, H'wiimi of Tlogudmi, 303 WUch, The (Middleton), 108,290 Witch, The (Wiors-Joiuisen), 311-2 Witch of Edmonton, The (find and Dekkoi), 102, 290-2, 308 Witch of Islington, The, 301 H'dc/i Traveller, The, 304 Wikheratt forbidden m the Biblo, 181 2

World Lost at Tennis', The, Masque, 9, 10,278

Wiight, Elizabeth, 75-0 Wright, Katlioimo, 225-0

Zoroatim, 302




THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION

A COMPLETE HISTORY OP MANKIND FROM PREHISTORIC TIMES TO THE PRESENT DAY IN NUMEROUS VOLUMES DESIGNED TO FORM A COMPLETE LIBRARY OF SOCIAL EVOLUTION


Edited by

C. K. OGDEN

of Magdalene College, Cambridge


Published by

KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Ltd.

BROADWAY HOUSE: (>8-7 4, CARTER LANE, LONDON




THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION


T HIS series marks one of the most ambitious adventures in the annals of book publishing. Its aim is to present in accessible form the results of modern research and modern scholarship throughout the whole range of the Social Sciences—to summarize in one compiehensive synthesis the most recent findings and theories of historians, anthropologists, archaeologists, sociologists, and all consci¬ entious students of civilization.

To achieve success in this stupendous undertaking, the arrangement of the series has been entrusted to the experienced editorship of C. K. Ogden, M.A., of Magdalene College, Cambridge. The new French series, V Evolution de VHumanite , in which the leading savants of France are collaborating with the Director of the Bibliothcque de Synthc«e Historique, M. Henri Berr, is being incoiporated. Distinguished historians, both European and American, are contributing volumes in their several departments. Above all, while detailed and very special monographs have been avoided, no attempt to e< write down ” to a low level has been made

The field has been carefully mapped out, as regards both subjects and periods; and, though the instalments will be published as they are ready, the necessary chronological sequence will be secured by the fact that the volumes of the French collection will be used as a nucleus. Each work will be entirely independent and complete in itself, but the volumes in a given group will be found to supplement one another when considered in relation to a particular subject or period.

The volumes are uniformly bound in a fine art-cambric cloth, with specially designed gold lettering and emblem, royal octavo in size, and usually illustrated.

THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT devoted a leading article to the first four volumes, in which the series was described as being “ composed by all the talents,”

THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN wrote that “ the experiment is one of great interest. Its difficulty is also great. The intention is to provide something more than an encyclopedia or a series of mono¬ graphs. The aim is to preserve a certain community of plan while


giving a free hand to each author in his own section. It is an heroic attempt, which will be sympathetically watched, to bring some light into the vast mass of ill-organized knowledge which we owe to modern research and so make it available in the end for the guidance of the world . 55

NATURE, the leading scientific journal, in a six-column review, provides a striking summary of the aims and objects of the series : C£ The History of Civilization promises to be perhaps the most important contribution so far undertaken towards the task of organization and systematization of the social studies, A glance at the prospectus makes us anticipate a library of masterpieces, for the best workers of France, Great Britain, and some other countries are contributing from their own speciality and arc attempting to bring it into line with the con¬ tributions from neighbouring fields and with the results of general sociology. Including all the volumes of the important French collection, VEvolution de Vllumanitv , the English library contains additions and improvements which will place it above its continental counterpart. The volumes already issued bear out our best hopes. Arranged so as to include all manifestations of human culture, the scries follows roughly a combined historical and geographical plan. Starting from the most comprehensive picture, the empty earth in the midst of the empty universe awaiting the arrival of man, it passes then to the gradual development of organic life and the early history of mankind, accom¬ panied by a series of introductory works which give an account of the various aspects of human culture: social organization, language, geographical and racial factors, man’s political evolution and primeval domesticity. The story then begins at the traditional cradle of culture, the ancient East, on the holy banks of the Nile, the Euphrates and Tigris, and on the shores of the Mediterranean, where the origins and history of the early Empires and their civilizations are described. . After having been shown the growth of the dEgcan civilization and the formation of the Greek people we study the history of Greece in all its wonderful cultural achievements. Next, hegemony has to be surrendered to Rome with its laws, polities, and economic organization. This brings u$ to the vast areas occupied by the Teutonic peoples to the North, the Persian, Indian and Chinese civilization to the East, and the Mongol cultures of Central Asia. These will be studied in a series of monographs. . . * The second division will contain volumes on

Christian religion, on the break-up of the Roman Empire, on the religious imperialisms of Christianity and Islam, on the political, social,


3


economic, and intellectual evolution in the Middle Ages and modern times The English library contains, besides, several special sections, one on the histories of various subjects, such as medicine, money, costume, witchcraft, etc. ; a section on Oriental culture ; on historical ethnology; and a few more sections not yet exhaustively announced, dealing with modem history. This summary does not do full justice to the merits of the plan and of the achievements of the series, so far as they have been laid before us ”


The following plan , comprising upwards of eighty titles , though not definitive, will serve to convey a general notion of the nature and scope of the enterprise :*

A. PRE-HISTORY AND ANTIQUITY


I Introduction and Pre-History

  • Social Organization

The Earth Before History Prehistoric Man

  • The Dawn of European Civilization

Language: a Linguistic Introduction to History A Geographical Introduction to History Race and History

  • The Aryans

From Tribe to Empire

  • The Diffusion of Culture
  • The Migration of Symbols
  • Woman’s Place in Simple Societies
  • Cycles in History

II The Early Empires

The Nile and Egyptian Civilization

  • Colour Symbolism of Ancient Egypt

The Mesopotamian Civilization The Aegean Civilization

III


W. H. R. Rivers E. Perrier J* de Morgan V Gordon Childe J. Vendryes L. Febvre E. Pit tard F, Gordon Childe A. Moret and G. Davy G. Elliot Smith D . A. Macken zie J. L. Myers J. L. Myers


A. Moret D, A Mackenzie L. Delaporte G, Glotz


Greece

The Formation of the Greek People A. Jarde

Ancient Greece at Work G. Glotz

The Religious Thought of Greece C. Sourdille

The Art of Greece ffl. Deonna and A. de Ridder

Greek Thought and the Scientific Spirit Z. Robin

The Greek City and its Institutions G, Glotz

Macedonian Imperialism P. Jouguet

  • An asterisk denotes that the volume does not form part of the French collection,

UEvolution de VBumamti.


4


IV Rome

Primitive Italy

The Roman Spirit in Religion, Thought, and Art Roman Political Institutions Rome the Law-Giver Ancient Economic Organization The Roman Empire

  • Ancient Rome at Work

The Celts


Leon Homo A . Grenier Leon Homo J Declareuil y. Toutain Victor Chapot Paul Louis FI, Hubert


V Beyond the Roman Empire Germany and the Roman Empire Persia

Ancient China and Central Asia A Thousand Years of the Tartars India

The Heroic Age of India

Caste and Race in India

The Life of Buddha as Legend and History


H. Hubert Clement Hu art M. Granet E H. Parker {Ed) S. Levi N K. Sidhania G S. Ghurye E. II Phomas


B CHRISTIANITY AND THE MIDDLE AGES


I The Origins of Christianity Israel and Judaism Jesus and the Birth of Christianity The Formation of the Church The Advance of Christianity ♦History and Literature of Christianity

II The Break-up of the Empire

The Dissolution of the Western Empire

The Eastern Empire

Charlemagne

The Collapse of the Carlovingian Empire The Origins of the Slavs Popular Life in the East Roman Empire The Northern Invaders

III Religious Imperialism Islam and Mahomet The Advance of Islam Christendom and the Crusades The Organization of the Church

IV Toe Art of the Middle Ages The Art of the Middle Ages

  • The Papacy and the Arts


A, Lods C. Guignehert C Guignehert C. Guignehert P. de Labriolle


F. Lot C. Diehl L. H alp hen F Lot (Ed) P. Boyer Norman Baynes B. S . Phillpotts


E. Doutte L, Barrau-Dihigo P. Alphandery R. Genestal


5


P, Lorquet E, Strong


V Reconstitution of Monarchic Power The Foundation of Modern Monarchies The Growth of Public Administration The Organization of Law

VI Social and Economic Evolution

The Development of Rural and Town Life Maritime Trade and the Merchant Gilds

  • Life and Work in Medieval Europe
  1. The Life of Women in Medieval Times

^Travel and Travellers of the Middle Ages

VII Intellectual Evolution


C. Petit-Duiailhs jE. Meynial E. Meynial

G Bout gin P. Boissonnade P. Boissonnade Eileen Power (Ed.) A P Newton


Education in the Middle Ages G Huisman

Philosophy in the Middle Ages E Brliner

Science in the Middle Ages Abel Rey and P. Bout rouse

VIII From the Middle Ages to Modern Times


Nations of Western and Central Europe Russians, Byzantines, and Mongols The Birth of the Book

  • The Grandeur and Decline of Spain
  1. Thc Influence of Scandinavia on England
  • The Philosophy of Capitalism
  • The Prelude to the Machine Age
  • Life and Work in Modern Europe


P. Lorquet (Ed) P. Boyer G. Renaudet C Hughes Hartmann M. E. Seaton T. E Gregory Mrs, Bertrand Russell G Renard


^London Life in the Eighteenth Century M. Dorothy George

  • Chin a and Europe in the Eighteenth Century A. Reichwein


A special group of volumes will be devoted to

(i) Subject Histories

  • The History of Medicine
  • The History of Money
  • The History of Costume
  • The History of Witchcraft
  • The Geography of Witchcraft
  • The History of Taste
  • The History of Oriental Literature
  • The History of Music

(z) Historical Ethnology

  • The Ethnology of India
  1. The Peoples of Asia
  • The Threshold of the Pacific
  1. The South American Indians


C. G. Gums ton T. E. Gregory M. Hiler Montague Summers Montague Summers f. Isaac E. Powys Mathers Cecil Gray

T C. Ilodson L H. Dudley Buxton G. E. Fox Rafael Kars ten.


In the Sections devoted to MODERN BISTORT the majority of titles will be announced later.


6


VOLUMES PUBLISHED


The following volumes have already been issued. They are arranged roughly tn the order in which they were published. But their place in the scheme of the whole senes may he diuoveied fum the above list :


THE EARTH BEFORE HISTORY : Man's Origin and the On gin of Life

By EDMOND PKRRFKR, late Hon, Director of the Natural History Museum of Frame.

With 4 maps, 15s. net

u If goes b.uk to the birth of the woild and tin* transformations of laud and water, and takes us through the growth of life on the planet, the primitive animal forms, the peopling of the seas, and tin* forms ot life in the primary, secondary, and tei tiaiy pm iodr, to the growth of the human form, IN us, Marl¬ ing fiom lhe origin of matin, it leads us m easy stages to homo 1 apian himself .* 7

I huly News.

a A remarkable volume , 71 - Yorkshire Post.


PREHISTORIC MAN; J General Outline of Prehistory

By JACQUES DE MORGAN, late Director of Antiquities in Egypt.

With 190 illustrations and maps, 12s. fid. net.

“ A notable and eminently readable study in the early history of civilization, and one well worth its place m t he great .series now bring issued by the publishers. It bears on every page the impress of the personality of its author, who strives to give the reader a dear, composite picture of early civilization,taking one topic after another.”— Nation *

“ A masterly summary of our present knowledge at a low price. As a full survey the book has no rival, and its value is enhanced by the lavish illustrations,”

New Leader.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

By W. IL R. RIVERS, LL.D., F.R.S. Preface by Professor G.

Elliot Smith

Second edition, 10s* fid, net.

“ Social Organization Is the first volume of the series of historical works on the whole range of human activity. May the present hook be of good augury for the rest! To maintain so high a standard of originality and thoroughness will be no easy task.”— Jake Harrison, in Nation.

a The book is a great contribution to the sum of human knowledge in the region of pure sociology .”—Daily News.


7


THE THRESHOLD OF THE PACIFIC: Account of

the Social Organization, Magic, and Religion of the People of San Cristoval in the Solomon Islands By C. E. FOX, Litt.D. Preface by Professor G. Elliot Smith With 14 plates and 40 text illustrations, 18s. net.

u A masterpiece. One of the very best contributions to ethnology we possess It has, besides its intrinsic value as a masterly record o£ savage life, also an in¬ direct one ; it is a remarkable testimony to the indispensable need of scientific method for the observer. His account of magical ritual and spells will become a classical source for students. The account of the life-history of the individual is depicted with a clearness and fulness unrivalled in ethnographic literature . . . ” Tunes Literary Supplement.

LANGUAGE : a Linguistic Introduction to History By J. VENDRYES, Professor in the University of Parts

16s. net.

“ A book remarkable for its erudition and equally remarkable for originality and independence of thought.”— Sunday Times,

“ As an introduction to philology this volume is a splendid piece of haute vulgarisation , for which anyone who at all loves words or who is at all curious about language, must be grateful. It covers nearly all the ground from every useful angle. A wide, level-headed, and erudite study.”— Nation.

A GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY

By LUCIEN FEBVRE, Professor in the University oj Strasburg With 7 maps, 16s. net.

“ A masterpiece of criticism, as witty as it is well-informed, and teeming with nice observations and delicate turns of argument and phrase.”

Times Literary Supplement .

“A broad, clear-headed introduction to the fascinating study of human geography. It is much more than a text-book for the student : it is a work that anyone with no knowledge of geography can read with avidity, for it is the greatest of pleasures to watch the clear logical thought of the writer rapidly treating with masterly power these great and important topics.”— Nation.

THE HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF CHRISTIANITY : from Tertullian to Boethius

By PIERRE DE LABRIOLLE, Professor of Literature at the University of Poitiers . Foreword by Cardinal Gasquet.

25s. net,

<£ A masterly volume A scholar of the finest accomplishment, an enthusiast for his subject, and himself an artist in letters, he has produced a book compre¬ hensive and authoritative, and also a joy to read from the first page to the last.”

Universe

“ This interesting and valuable book.”—W. L. Courtney, in Daily Telegraph


8


LONDON LIFE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY By M. DOROTHY GEORGE.

Second impression, with 8 plates, 21s. net.

“ Mrs. George, by her cumulative method, imparts a shuddering impression of the brutalised life led by the masses under the first two Georges. Her work is full of eloquent detail. All who like to get at close quarters with history will feel immensely debtors to her industrious research and faculty of clear statement. And she will have the satisfaction of restoring faith to many minds in the reality of progress.”— Observer.

“ One of the best pieces of research m social and economic history which have appeared for many years.”— Nation,

“ An admirable study.”— J. L. Hammond, m The New Statesman.

A THOUSAND YEARS OF THE TARTARS

By E. H. PARKER, Professor of Chinese in the Victoria University of Manchester.

With 5 illustrations and maps, 12s, 6d. net.

“ Professor Parker takes us back to a period roughly contemporaneous with that of the foundation of the Roman empire, and shows their history to be, like that of the Northern barbarians and Rome, a constant struggle with China. With an unfamiliar subject the book is not an easy one to read., but the author has done all that was possible to enliven his subject and has certainly succeeded in giving us a most valuable text-book.”— Saturday Review

CHINA AND EUROPE: their Intellectual and Artistic Relations in the Eighteenth Century

By ADOLPH REICHWEIN.

With 24 plates, 12s. 6d. net.

u Among the volumes of the monumental History of Civilization, this study of the influence of Chinese art and thought on the European art and thought of the eighteenth century will find not the least popular and distinguished place. The chapter headed c Rococo ’ will be of especial interest to connoisseurs. . .

The illustrations are numerous and beautiful.”— Sunday Times.

u A fascinating subject. The references to literature are admirably full and complete,”— -Times Literary Supplement.

THE DAWN OF EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION By V. GORDON CHILDE, B Litt.

With 198 illustrations and 4 maps, 16s. net.

u Higher praise of Mr. Childe’s book, which forms a volume of the monu¬ mental History of Civilization could scarcely be given than to say that it is in all respects worthy of the volumes which preceded it.”— Sunday Times *


9


44 He has done a very great service to learning, and. given a dear and reliable outline of the earliest civilization of Europe, His book 4 fills a gap 5 indeed ” — Nation ,

44 A veiy fine piece of work.”— Manchester Guardian.

44 A work of supreme importance . . . places the writer in the very

front rank of European archaeologists.”— Glasgow Herald.

MESOPOTAMIA ; the Babylonian and Assyrian Civili¬ zation

By L. DELAPORTE, Professor in the Catholic Institute of Pans .

With 6o illustrations and maps, i6s. net.

44 This book is for the most part very good. The author has handled his difficult mateiial cleverly. Where he succeeds is in his admirably written description of the social life, of which he makes a fascinating story. Here is presented an entertain!ng picture ot the inhabitants in 2000 b c Then from the earlier Babylonians he passes to the Assyrians, dealing with them in a similar excellent way. This is one of the best books of its kind which we have seen for some time.”— Times Literary Supplement.

44 A highly-detailed picture of that orderly and highly-coloured civilization which once assembled libraries, tried divorce cases, and contrived an intricate irrigation system,”— Daily News.

THE AEGEAN CIVILIZATION

By G. GLOTZ, Professor of Greek History in the University of Pans.

With 4 plates, 87 text illustrations, and 3 maps, 16s. net.

44 This is a marvellous summary, divided into four books, describing in detail the material, social, religious, artistic and intellectual life of the people. Every one of these sections is full of interesting and new knowledge. A wondeiful book, thoroughly scholarly and attractive in presentation.”— Birmingham Post.

44 Reads like a romance . . . presents a very vivid picture of this

marvellous civilization.”— Times Literary Supplement.

THE PEOPLES OF ASIA

By L. H. DUDLEY BUXTON, M.A., F.S.A., Lecturer in Physical Anthropology in the University of Oxford

With 8 plates, 12s. 6d. net.

44 Although the physical characters of the principal racial strains are described in some detail, the author keeps before his readers the bearing of these data upon the broader problems of racial distribution, as well as the intensely interesting question of the interaction of race, environment, and modification by contact due to migration The exposition of anthropological method given m an ntroductory chapter is admirably lucid.”— -Manchester Guardian .

44 The student will gain much information presented in an oiderly manner. The style is both lucid and concise, and not the least remarkable feature of the work is its compact ness.”— Times Literary Supplement.


10


. LIFE AND WORK IN MODERN EUROPE, from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Gentmy

  1. By G. RENARD, Professor at the College of France , and G.

WEXJLERSSE, Professor at the Lycde Carnot . Introduction by Eileen Power, D, Lit., Reader in Medieval Economic History in the University of London .

With 8 plates, 16s. net.

“ in a way as attractive as possible liiev deal with social conditions and economic changes, with the history of labour, with the disappeaiance of medieval survivals, and the increasing influence of Governments. A well-balanced and valuable picture of Europe during a period of the greatest importance in the history of the world ”—Westminster Gazette.

“ 'This can certainly* be pronounced a most useful book. There is nothing that coven, anything like the same ground ; indeed, there is actually no book in English which even pietends to give an outline of Euiopcan economic history as a whole. It is mu jestingly written, and is a storehouse of valuable informa¬ tion.”— New Statesman,

THE MIGRATION OF SYMBOLS, and their Relations to Beliefs and Customs

By DONALD A. MACKENZIE, author of “ Am tent Man in Britain

With 16 plates and 53 text illustrations, 12s. 6d. net.

“ The propose of the present book is to show that so-called simple symbols, such as the spinal, do not ex pres., even for backward peoples, simple ideas suggested by everyday experience, but highly complex beliefs which have a history. , . . Each of his chapters is full of interest, well furnished with

documentary and graphic evidence.” —T lines Literary Supplement .

“ Whether as a competent sociological study 01 a series of enteimining glimpses of ancient life, mannas and visions, Mr. Mackentrie’s volume has a high value.” —Literary Guide.

“ A highly instructive volume .”—Daily News,

TRAVEL AND TRAVELLERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES:

a series of Essays

Edited by A, P. NEWTON, Rhodes Prof as wr of Imperial History in the University of London.

With 8 plates and maps, 12s. 6d. net.

“This work is no rrteie collect ion of stray essays, but in some respects the most important contribution to the history of medieval travel since Professor Bcazley’s Dawn of Modern Geography and the new edition of Yule’s Cathay .

, . . We have said enough to indicate that this work is one which should

appeal both to the general reader and to the scholar. The illustrations are good.” —Timn Literary Supplement

“All the essays are useful and interesting. The reader will be grateful to Mr. Newt on for giving him such pleasant access to a world of knowledge as obscure as it is exciting,”— Manchester Guardian,

u


ANCIENT GREECE AT WORK : an Economic History of Greece from the Homeric Period to the Roman Conquest

By G. GLOTZ, Professor of Greek History in the University of Pari#.

With 49 illustrations, 16s. net.

“ This is a learned but thoroughly interesting description of farming, industry, and business in general m ancient Greece, and should interest the student of economics as well as the classical scholar, since it shows practices developing from their simplest form. Besides giving hard economic facts the author makes interesting lemarks on the Greek attitude to slaves, to foreigneis, and to labour. It is all told so persuasively. . . . This is a very readable

and unusual book.”— Spectator

u A really fascinating economic history of the Greek people-—theii daily life, their trade, and the play of economic causes on their political history.”

Ntw Lea dei .

RACE AND HISTORY: an Ethnological Introduction to History

By E. PITTARD, Professor of A nth topology in the University of Geneva.

With 9 illustrations and maps, 21s. net.

A companion to Febvre’s Geographical Introduction to History , which estimated the value of “ environment ” as a factor in history, while the present volume considers the “ racial ” factor. “ No one is better qualified to compose a thoroughly level-headed treatise on the subject of race. For the peoples who occupy a conspicuous place in history, and especially the peoples of Europe, no better guide could be found.”— Times Literary Supplement .

u He has made a difficult subject vivid and suggestive in this most readable bool.”— New Leader.

THE ARYANS : a Study of Indo-European Origins By V. GORDON CHILDE, B.Litt.

With 8 plates, 28 text illustrations, and a map, 10s. 6d, net.

“ Mr. Childe has followed up his interesting book, The Dawn of European Civilization , with another archaeological study not less scholarly and sound. By a joint use of philological deduction and archeological induction, he contrives a thoroughly scientific handling of the problem .”—Times Literary Supplement .

“ A notable contribution. For all its erudition, its narratives are lively and lucid, and the work that rare thing a scholarly book that the general reader will be able to enjoy.”— Outlook.

FROM TRIBE TO EMPIRE : Social Organization among the Primitives and in the Ancient East

By A. MORET, Professor in the University of Paris , and G* DAVY, of the University of Dijon.

With 47 illustrations and 7 maps, 16s. net.

u It is a work full of valuable and curious information, specially interesting to those whose study is early sociology. The learned authors treat first of the


12


organization of primitive totemistic groups and trace the rise of a central authority therein. They then show how in certain favoured regions of the East, the primitive organization of tribe passed into the form of the theocratic empire. Nb student of human origins can afford to neglect this careful investigation.”

Journal of Education.

£fi A valuable member of the series.”— Literary Guide.

THE FORMATION OF THE GREEK PEOPLE

By A. JARDE, Professor of History at the Lycce Lab anal.

With 7 maps, 16s. net.

“ One reader at least will tell the world he has enjoyed the book, has profited by it, and is not yet done with it ; he means to use it again, and mean¬ while ventures to tell others interested in History that this is a book for them.”

T. R. Glover, in Nation.

“ In a series of chapters, the historical accuracy of which is only matched by the splendid grouping of events and the lucidity of arrangement, he shows us how all the different forces wrought together to form the Greek people, till the destruction of the Gieek state set Hellenism free to civilize the woild.”

Glasgow Herald .

THE ROMAN SPIRIT in Religion, Thought , and Art

By A. GRENIER, Pi of as < or in the University of Strasburg.

With 16 plates and 16 text illustrations, 16s. net.

a I have not space to set out all the things in the hook that have interested me and given me pleasure. The sections on religion and liteiature are fresh and stimulating. The classical scholar and the general readei can be recommended alike to read every page of this admirable book.”— Nation.

“ A biilliant interpretation of Latin literature and religion .”—New Leader.

u The book is one of decided originality, of the highest intellectual power, displaying marked ability at once to enlighten and fascinate the reader.”

Glasgow Herald.

THE HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT AND DEMONOLOGY

By MONTAGUE SUMMERS, editor of Congreve , Wycherley , Otway , etc.

With 8 full-page plates, I2s. 6d. net.

The author includes under the heading of Witchc raft every kind of malign occult art, such as Sorcery, Black Magic, Necromancy, Occult Divination, and Satanism, The immodesty of the witch-cult is neither shunned nor extenuated. The witch is here revealed in her true colours, as a social pest and parasite ; the devotee of an obscene creed ; an adept at poisoning, blackmail, and other creeping crimes; a bawd ; an abortionist ; a minister to vice and corruption, battening upon the foulest passions of the age. A very full Bibliography will prove invaluable to students.

“ No more learned, no more copiously documented work on the subject has seen the light for a long while. Birmingham Post.


n


THE HISTORY OF MEDICINE, from the time of the Pharaohs to the end of the Eighteefith Century

By C. G. CUMSTON, M D., Learner on the History of Medic we in the University of Geneva. With a chapter on the Study of the Histoiy of Medicine , by F. G. CROOKSHANK, M D , F.R C.P.

With 24 plates, 16s. net.

This book has been written for the general reader and. as an introduction to the his lory of his chosen profession, for the student of medicine. It contains an account of the chief medical schools, theories, and discoveries, and will contain much material not to be found m other works. While all unnecessary details have been excluded, the book gives a clear and comprehensive history of the evolution of the healing art.

THE CIVILIZATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS, with special reference to Magic and Religion

By RAFAEL KARSTEN, Pin D , Piofevwr of Moral Philosophy at the Univeisity of Finland , Helsingfors, Pufaie by Professor E* Westerjm \rck.

25s, net.

Based on dose personal contact with the natives of South America for five years, the book gives a detailed account of their life, in which, of course, magic and religion play a dominant part Chapters are devoted to Ceremonial Body- Painting ; Customs relating to Hair, Nails, Head, and Skm ; Feather and other Ornaments; Mutilation ; Psychology of Ornamental Ait ; Animal and Plant Spirits; Spirits of inanimate Objects; Ideas of Generation and Conception , the Male Child-bed ; Magical Sacnfice ; Taboo and Mana ; etc.

PRIMITIVE ITALY, and the Beginnings oj Roman I mperialism

By LEON HOMO, Professor in the University of Lyons,

With 13 maps and plans, 16s. net.

The situation in primitive Italy, the biith of Rome, its growth, the extension of its early conquests, the gradual assimilation of the whole of the Italian peninsular, its spread over the Mediterranean, until finally the Roman empne is complete, these aie the themes of this volume. Here one may see the methods by which one of the greatest empires in history attained to the height of its powej *

ROME THE LAW-GIVER

By J. DECLARRUIL, Professor in the University of Toulouse .

16s. net.

While the Greeks created art and speculation, it was left to those born realists, the Romans, to produce jurists* So anxious were they to maintain just relations between living beings that they early adopted a legal at til ude towards the gods themselves. This volume sets forth in a luminous fashion the sources and the foimarion of Roman law ; its evolution ; the establishment of a public order where the rights of the individual are reconciled with social interests; finally the loss of equilibrium due to exaggerated individualism on the one hand and on ihe other the establishment of State Socialism.


  • 4


LIFE AND WORK IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE, from the Fifth to the Fifteenth Century

By P BQISSOMNADE, Professor tn the University of Poitiers, reinstated with an Introduction by Eileen Power, D Lit , Reader in Medieval Economic History in the Univeisity of London .

With 8 plates, 16s. net.

This volume, with its companion, Life and Work in Modern Europe (see above), together provide an accurate and vivid picture oi the social conditions and economic movements throughout Europe from the downfall of the Roman Empire to the beginnmgof the Industrial Revolution. The early period, covered by the present volume, includes the stupendous work of the colonization and population of Europe, traces the rise of vast labouring classes from conditions of dependence to those of comparative freedom, and demonstrates the early development of such u modern ” phenomena as the capitalist entrepreneur, strikes, unions, and the other symptoms of wax between rich and poor.


The following volumes are nearing publication. They are arranged roughly in the order in which they will appear. Their place in the scheme of the whole series may be discovered from the list ;


ANCIENT PERSIA, and Iranian Civilization

By CLEMENT HU ART, Professor at the National School of Living Oriental Languages.

With 4 plates, 35 text illustrations, and a map, about 16s. net.

The role played by Persia in the history of civilization was one of paramount importance. Not only did she herself make original contributions to the woild of moral and religious thought, but she was in a great degree responsible foi the fusion of races. Professor Huart traces her history under the great dynasties, the Achaemenid, the Arsacid, and the Sassanid, shows the birth of Mithraism from Mazdaism, and estimates its effect in producing the great world-religions.


ANCIENT ROME AT WORK : an Economic History of Rome from the Origins to the Empire

By PAUL LOUIS.

Illustrated, about 12s. 6d. net.

A period of nearly 1,200 years is covered in this volume, which studies the economic history of Rome from the age of piimitive industry and pastoral life to the organized labour and complex life of the late Empire. The subject is particularly attractive as it relates to a people from whom, more than any other, European civilization is derived.


J 5


ART IN GREECE

By A. de RIDDER, Curator at the Louvre Museum, a* W. DEONNA, Director of the Geneva Museum of Art and History . With 20 plates and 67 text illustrations, about 16s. net.

Art does not date from the Greeks, but under the Gieeks art in diverse foims grew amazingly. The present volume is not an archaeological treatise ; its aim is to show the part which art played in the life of the Greeks and the character it took on among them, in such a way as to explain the influence exercised bv Greek artists on the art of other peoples and Igier ages.

THE LIFE OF BUDDHA, in Legend and History

By E. H THOMAS, D.Litt., Assistant-Librarian in the University Library , Cambridge,

With 4 plates and a map, about 12s. 6d. net.

In recent years the sources for the history of Buddha and Buddhism have been greatly increased, but these new data have never yet been incorporated wit It previous results, nor has an estimate been made of the extent to which they modify earlier conclusions. The present work sets forth what it known irom the records, and utilizes information never befoie presented in a Western foim,

THE GEOGRAPHY OF WITCHCRAFT

By MONTAGUE SUMMERS

With. 8 plates, about 18s. net.

In this work the author gives detailed evidence for the account of Witchcraft set out in his previous volume in the series. The epidemic is treated as it appeared in the various countries and compiehensive chapters deal m turn with Greece and Rome, England, Scotland, New England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spam.

Other early volumes , of which details will he announced later , include ;

THE DIFFUSION OF CULTURE

By G. ELLIOT SMITH, F R.S

THE NILE, and Egyptian Civilization

By A. MORET, Professor in the University of Paris.

GREEK THOUGHT, and the Origins of the Scientific Spirit By L. ROBIN, Professor in the University of Paris .

MACEDONIAN IMPERIALISM, and the llellenization of the East

By P. JOUGUET, Professor in the University of Parts.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE

By VICTOR CHAPOT,

16



Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "The History of Witchcraft and Demonology" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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