instances the prayer was taught by him. Alice Gooderidge of Stapenhill in
Derbyshire, 1597, herself a witch and the daughter of a witch, was charged
by Sir Humphrey Ferrers 'with witchcraft about one Michael's Cow: which Cow
when shee brake all thinges that they tied her in, ranne to this Alice
Gooderige her house, scraping at the walls and windowes to haue come in:
her olde mother Elizabeth Wright, tooke vpon her to help; vpon condition
that she might haue a peny to bestow vpon her god, and so she came to the
mans house kneeled downe before the Cow, crossed her with a sticke in the
forehead, and prayed to her god, since which time the Cow continued
wel'.[40] Antide Colas, 1598, confessed that 'Satan luy commada de le prier
soir & matin, auant qu'elle s'addonnat a faire autre oeuure'.[41] Elizabeth
Sawyer, the witch of Edmonton, 1621, was taught by the Devil; 'He asked of
me to whom I prayed, and I answered him to Iesus Christ, and he charged me
then to pray no more to Iesus Christ, but to him the Diuell, and he the
Diuell taught me this prayer, _Sanctibecetur nomen tuum_, Amen'.[42] Part
of the dittay against Jonet Rendall, an Orkney witch, 1629, was that 'the
devill appeirit to you, Quhom ye called Walliman.--Indyttit and accusit for
y^t of your awne confessioune efter ye met your Walliman upoun the hill ye
cam to Williame Rendalls hous quha haid ane seik hors and promeised to
haill him if he could geve yow tua penneys for everie foot, And haveing
gottin the silver ye hailled the hors be praying to your Walliman, Lykeas
ye have confest that thair is nather man nor beast sick that is not tane
away be the hand of God bot for almis ye ar able to cur it be praying to
your Walliman, and yt thair is nane yt geves yow almis bot they will thryve
ather be sea or land it ye pray to yor Walliman'.[43] The witches of East
Anglia, 1645, also prayed; '_Ellen_ the wife of _Nicholas Greenleife_ of
_Barton_ in _Suffolke_, confessed, that when she prayed she prayed to the
Devill and not to God.--_Rebecca West_ confessed that her mother prayed
constantly (and, as the world thought, very seriously), but she said it was
to the devil, using these words, _Oh my God, my God_, meaning him and not
the LORD.'[44]
A good example of the change of the word 'God', when used by the witch,
into the word 'devil' when recorded by the Christian writer, is found at
Bute in 1662: 'Jonet Stewart declares that quhen Alester McNivan was lying
sick that Jonet Morisone and NcWilliam being in her house the said Jonet
desyred NcWilliam to goe see the said Allester the said NcWilliam lifting
up her curcheffe said "devill let him never be seene till I see him and
devill let him never ryse" ... [NcWilliam was asked] if she lifted up her
curcheffe quhen Jonet Morisone desyred her to goe see Alester McNivan,
saying "god let him never ryse till I goe see him."'[45]
2. _As a Human Being._ (a) _Man_
The evidence of the witches makes it abundantly clear that the so-called
Devil was a human being, generally a man, occasionally a woman. At the
great Sabbaths, where he appeared in his grand array, he was disguised out
of recognition; at the small meetings, in visiting his votaries, or when
inducing a possible convert to join the ranks of the witch-society, he came
in his own person, usually dressed plainly in the costume of the period.
When in ordinary clothes he was indistinguishable from any other man of his
own rank or age, but the evidence suggests that he made himself known by
some manual gesture, by a password, or by some token carried on his person.
The token seems to have been carried on the foot, and was perhaps a
specially formed boot or shoe, or a foot-covering worn under the shoe.[46]
Besides the Grand Master himself there was often a second 'Devil', younger
than the Chief. There is no indication whatsoever as to the method of
appointing the head of the witch-community, but it seems probable that on
the death of the principal 'Devil' the junior succeeded, and that the
junior was appointed from among the officers (see chap. vii). This
suggestion, however, does not appear to hold good where a woman was the
Chief, for her second in command was always a man and often one well
advanced in years. The elderly men always seem to have had grey beards.
Danaeus in 1575 summarizes the evidence and says of the Devil, 'he
appeareth vnto them in likenesse of a man, insomuch that it hapneth many
tymes, that among a great company of men, the Sorcerer only knoweth Satan,
that is present, when other doo not know him, although they see another
man, but who or what he is they know not'.[47] De Lancre says, 'On a
obserue de tout temps que lors qu'il veut receuoir quelcun a faire pacte
auec luy, il se presente tousiours en homme'.[48] Cooper states that 'the
Wizards and Witches being met in a place and time appointed, the devil
appears to them in humane shape'.[49] Even a modern writer, after studying
the evidence, acknowledges that the witches 'seem to have been undoubtedly
the victims of unscrupulous and designing knaves, who personated
Satan'.[50]
The witches not only described the personal appearance of the Devil, but
often gave careful details as to his clothes; such details are naturally
fuller when given by the women than by the men.
_England._--John Walsh of Dorsetshire, 1566, described the Devil, whom he
called his Familiar, as 'sometymes like a man in all proportions, sauing
that he had clouen feete'.[51] The Lancashire witch, Anne Chattox, 1613,
said, 'A thing like a Christian man did sundry times come to this
Examinate, and requested this Examinate to giue him her Soule: And in the
end, this Examinate was contented to giue him her sayd Soule, shee being
then in her owne house, in the Forrest of Pendle; wherevpon the Deuill then
in the shape of a Man, sayd to this Examinate: Thou shalt want nothing.'
Elizabeth Southerns of the same Coven said that 'there met her this
Examinate a Spirit or Deuill, in the shape of a Boy, the one halfe of his
Coate blacke, and the other browne'.[52] To Margaret Johnson, one of the
later Lancashire witches, 1633, there appeared 'a spirit or divell in the
similitude and proportion of a man, apparelled in a suite of black, tyed
about w^th silke pointes'.[53] The Yarmouth witch, 1644, 'when she was in
Bed, heard one knock at her Door, and rising to her Window, she saw, it
being Moonlight, a tall black Man there'.[54] The Essex witches, 1645,
agreed very fairly in their description of the man who came amongst them:
according to Elizabeth Clarke he appeared 'in the shape of a proper
gentleman, with a laced band, having the whole proportion of a man.... He
had oftentimes knocked at her dore in the night time; and shee did arise
open the dore and let him in'; Rebecca Weste gave evidence that 'the Devil
appeared in the likeness of a proper young man'; and Rebecca Jones said
that the Devil as 'a very handsome young man came to the door, who asked
how she did'; on another occasion she met the Devil, 'as shee was going to
St. Osyth to sell butter', in the form of a 'man in a ragged sute'.[55]
There are two accounts of the evidence given by the Huntingdonshire witch,
Joan Wallis of Keiston, 1646: Stearne says that she 'confessed the Devill
came to her in the likenesse of a man in blackish cloathing, but had cloven
feet'. Davenport's record is slightly different: 'Blackman came first to
her, about a twelve-moneth since, like a man something ancient, in
blackish cloathes, but he had ugly feet uncovered.'[56] The evidence of the
Suffolk witches, 1645-6, is to the same effect; Thomazine Ratcliffe of
Shellie confessed that 'there came one in the likeness of a man.--One
_Richmond_, a woman which lived at _Brampford_, confessed the Devill
appeared to her in the likenesse of a man, called _Daniel_ the
Prophet.--One _Bush_ of _Barton_, widdow, confessed that the Devill
appeared to her in the shape of a young black man'.[57] All the Covens of
Somerset, 1664, were evidently under one Chief; he came to Elizabeth Style
as 'a handsome man'; to Elizabeth Style, Anne Bishop, Alice Duke, and Mary
Penny as 'a Man in black Clothes, with a little Band'; to Christian Green
'in the shape of a Man in blackish Clothes'; and to Mary and Catherine
Green as 'a little Man in black Clothes with a little Band'.[58] To the
Yorkshire witch, Alice Huson, 1664, he appeared 'like a _Black Man_ on a
Horse upon the Moor', and again 'like a _Black Man_ upon a Black Horse,
with Cloven Feet'.[59] Abre Grinset of Dunwich, in Suffolk, 1665, said 'he
did appear in the form of a Pretty handsom Young Man'.[60] In
Northumberland, 1673, Ann Armstrong said that 'she see the said Ann Forster
[with twelve others and] a long black man rideing on a bay galloway, as she
thought, which they call'd there protector'.[61] The Devonshire witch
Susanna Edwards, 1682, enters into some detail: 'She did meet with a
gentleman in a field called the Parsonage Close in the town of Biddiford.
And saith that his apparel was all of black. Upon which she did hope to
have a piece of money of him. Whereupon the gentleman drawing near unto
this examinant, she did make a curchy or courtesy unto him, as she did use
to do to gentlemen. Being demanded what and who the gentleman she spake of
was, the said examinant answered and said, That it was the Devil.'[62] In
Northamptonshire, 1705, he came to Mary Phillips and Elinor Shaw as 'a tall
black Man'.[63]
_Scotland._--The earliest description is in the trial of Bessie Dunlop of
Lyne in Ayrshire in 1576, and is one of the most detailed. Bessie never
spoke of the person, who appeared to her, as the 'Devil', she invariably
called him Thom Reid; but he stood to her in the same relation that the
Devil stood to the witches, and like the Devil he demanded that she should
believe on him. She described him as 'ane honest wele elderlie man, gray
bairdit, and had ane gray coitt with Lumbart slevis of the auld fassoun;
ane pair of gray brekis, and quhyte schankis, gartanit aboue the kne; ane
blak bonet on his heid, cloise behind and plane befoir, with silkin laissis
drawin throw the lippis thairof; and ane quhyte wand in his hand'.[64]
Alison Peirson, 1588, must have recognized the man who appeared to her, for
she 'wes conuict of the vsing of Sorcerie and Wichcraft, with the
Inuocatioun of the spreitis of the Dewill; 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'.[65] Though
the Devil of North Berwick, 1590, appeared in disguise, it is not only
certain that he was a man but his identity can be determined. Barbara
Napier deposed that 'the devil wess with them in likeness of ane black man
... the devil start up in the pulpit, like a mickle blak man, with ane
black beard sticking out like ane goat's beard, clad in ane blak tatie
[tattered] gown and ane ewill favoured scull bonnet on his heid; hauing ane
black book in his hand'. Agnes Sampson's description in the official record
was very brief: 'he had on him ane gown, and ane hat, which were both
black';[66] but Melville, who probably heard her evidence, puts it more
dramatically: 'The deuell wes cled in ane blak gown with ane blak hat vpon
his head.... His faice was terrible, his noise lyk the bek of ane egle,
gret bournyng eyn; his handis and leggis wer herry, with clawes vpon his
handis, and feit lyk the griffon.'[67] John Fian merely mentions that the
first time the Devil came he was clothed in white raiment.[68] The evidence
from Aberdeen, 1596-7, points to there being two Chiefs, one old and one
young. Ellen Gray confessed that 'the Devill, thy maister, apperit to thee
in the scheap of ane agit man, beirdit, with a quhyt gown and a thrummit
[shaggy] hatt'. Andro Man 'confessis that Crystsunday cum to hym in liknes
of ane fair angell, and clad in quhyt claythis'. Christen Mitchell stated
that 'Sathan apperit to the in the lyknes of a littill crippill man'; and
Marion Grant gave evidence that 'the Deuill, quhom thow callis thy god,
apperit to thee in ane gryte man his licknes, in silkin abuilzeament
[habiliment], withe ane quhyt candill in his hand'.[69] Isobell Haldane of
Perth, 1607, was carried away into a fairy hill, 'thair scho stayit thrie
dayis, viz. fra Thurisday till Sonday at xii houris. Scho mett a man with
ane gray beird, quha brocht hir furth agane.' This man stood to her in the
same relation as Thom Reid to Bessie Dunlop, or as the Devil to the
witches.[70] Jonet Rendall of Orkney, 1629, saw him 'claid in quhyt
cloathis, with ane quhyt head and ane gray beard'.[71] In East Lothian,
1630, Alexander Hamilton met the Devil in the likeness of a black man.[72]
At Eymouth, 1634, Bessie Bathgate was seen by two young men 'at 12 hours of
even (when all people are in their beds) standing bare-legged and in her
sark valicot, at the back of hir yard, conferring with the devil who was in
green cloaths'.[73] Manie Haliburton of Dirlton, 1649, confessed that, when
her daughter was ill, 'came the Devill, in licknes of a man, to hir hous,
calling himselff a phisition'.[74] He came also as 'a Mediciner' to Sandie
Hunter in East Lothian in 1649.[75] In the same year he appeared as a black
man to Robert Grieve, 'an eminent Warlock' at Lauder.[76] In the same year
also 'Janet Brown was charged with having held a meeting with the Devil
appearing as a man, at the back of Broomhills'.[77] Among the Alloa
witches, tried in 1658, Margret Duchall 'did freelie confes hir paction
with the diwell, how he appeared first to hir in the liknes of a man in
broun cloathis, and ane blak hat'; while Kathren Renny said 'that he first
appeared to hir in the bodis medow in the liknes of a man with gray
cloathis and ane blew cap'.[78] The years 1661 and 1662 are notable in the
annals of Scotch witchcraft for the number of trials and the consequent
mass of evidence, including many descriptions of the Grand-master. At
Forfar, in 1661, Helen Guthrie said that at several meetings the devil was
present 'in the shape of a black iron-hued man'; Katherine Porter 'saw the
divill and he had ane blacke plaid about him'; when Issobell Smyth was
alone gathering heather, 'hee appeared to hir alone lik ane braw
gentleman'; and on another occasion 'like a light gentleman'.[79] Jonet
Watson of Dalkeith, also in 1661, said 'that the Deivill apeired vnto her
in the liknes of ane prettie boy, in grein clothes.... Shoe was at a
Meitting in Newtoun-dein with the Deavill, who had grein clothes vpone him,
and ane blak hatt vpone his head'.[80] In the same year an Edinburgh Coven
was tried: Jonet Ker was accused that 'as you wer comeing from Edr to the
park you mett with the devill at the bough in the liknes of a greavous
black man'; Helene Casso 'met with the devill in liknes of a man with
greine cloaths in the links of Dudingstone qr he wes gathering sticks
amongst the whines'; Isobel Ramsay 'mett with the devill in the Liknes of a
pleasant young man who said qr live you goodwyf and how does the minister
And as you wes goeing away he gave you a sexpence saying God bud him give
you that qch you wared and bought meall therwith As also you had ane uther
meiting wt the devill in yor awne house in the liknes of yor awne husband
as you wes lying in yor bed at qch tyme you engadged to be his servant';
Jonet Millar 'did meit wt the devill in liknes of ane young man in the hous
besyd the standing stane'.[81] The trials of the Auldearne witches in 1662
are fully reported as regards matters which interested the recorder;
unfortunately the appearance of the Devil was not one of these, therefore
Isobel Gowdie's description is abbreviated to the following: 'He was a
meikle black roch man. Sometimes he had boots and sometimes shoes on his
foot; but still [always] his foot are forked and cloven.'[82] At Crook of
Devon in Kinross-shire, in the same year, nine of the witches describe the
men they saw, for evidently there were two 'Devils' in this district;
Isobel Rutherford said that 'Sathan was in the likness of a man with gray
cloathes and ane blue bannet, having ane beard'; Bessie Henderson, 'the
Devil appeared to you in the likeness of ane bonnie young lad, with ane
blue bonnet'; Robert Wilson, 'the Devil was riding on ane horse with
fulyairt clothes and ane Spanish cape'; Bessie Neil, 'Sathan appeared to
you with dun-coloured clothes'; Margaret Litster, 'Sathan having grey
clothes'; Agnes Brugh, 'the Devil appeared in the twilight like unto a half
long fellow with an dusti coloured coat'; Margaret Huggon, 'he was an
uncouth man with black cloathes with ane hood on his head'; Janet Paton,
'Sathan had black coloured clothes and ane blue bonnet being an unkie like
man'; Christian Grieve, 'Sathan did first appear to yow like ane little man
with ane blue bonnet on his head with rough gray cloaths on him'.[83] Marie
Lamont of Innerkip, also in 1662, said that 'the devil was in the likeness
of a meikle black man, and sung to them, and they dancit'; he appeared
again 'in the likeness of a black man with cloven featt'.[84] At Paisley,
in 1678, the girl-witch Annabil Stuart said that 'the Devil in the shape of
a Black man came to her Mother's House'; her brother John was more detailed
in his description, he observed 'one of the black man's feet to be cloven:
and that the black man's Apparel was black; and that he had a bluish Band
and Handcuffs; and that he had Hogers[85] on his Legs without Shoes';
Margaret Jackson of the same Coven confirmed the description, 'the black
man's Clothes were black, and he had white Handcuffs'.[86] The clearest
evidence is from an unpublished trial of 1678 among the records in the
Justiciary Court in Edinburgh:
'Margaret Lowis declaires that about Elevin years ago a man whom she
thought to be ane Englishman that cured diseases in the countrey
called [blank] Webb appeared to her in her own house and gave her a
drink and told her that she would have children after the taking of
that drink And declares that that man made her renunce her baptisme
... and declares that she thought that the man who made her doe these
things wes the divill and that she has hade severall meitings with
that man after she knew him to be the divill.... Margaret Smaill
prisoner being examined anent the Cryme of witchcraft depones that
having come into the house of Jannet Borthvick in Crightoun she saw a
gentleman sitting with her, and they desyred her to sitt down and
having sitten down the gentleman drank to her and she drank to him and
therefter the said Jannet Borthvick told her that that gentleman was
the divill and declares that at her desyre she renunced her baptisme
and gave herself to the divill.'
At Borrowstowness in 1679 Annaple Thomson 'had a metting with the devill in
your cwming betwixt Linlithgow and Borrowstownes, where the devil, in the
lyknes of ane black man, told yow, that yow wis ane poore puddled bodie....
And yow the said Annaple had ane other metting, and he inveitted yow to go
alongst, and drink with him'. The same devil met Margaret Hamilton 'and
conversed with yow at the town-well of Borrowstownes, and several tymes in
yowr awin howss, and drank severall choppens of ale with you'.[87] The
Renfrewshire trials of 1696 show that all Mrs. Fulton's grandchildren saw
the same personage; Elizabeth Anderson, at the age of seven, 'saw a black
grim Man go in to her Grandmothers House'; James Lindsay, aged fourteen,
'met his Grandmother with a black grim Man'; and little Thomas Lindsay was
awaked by his grandmother 'one Night out of his Bed, and caused him take a
Black Grimm Gentleman (as she called him) by the Hand'.[88] At Pittenweem,
in 1704, 'this young Woman Isobel Adams [acknowledged] her compact with the
Devil, which she says was made up after this manner, _viz._ That being in
the House of the said Beatie Laing, and a Man at the end of the Table,
Beatie proposes to Isobel, that since she would not Fee and Hire with her,
that she would do it, with the Man at the end of the Table; And accordingly
Isobel agreed to it, and spoke with the Man at that time in General terms.
Eight days after, the same Person in Appearance comes to her, and owns
that he was the Devil.'[89] The latest instance is at Thurso in 1719,
where the Devil met Margaret Nin-Gilbert 'in the way in the likeness of a
man, and engaged her to take on with him, which she consented to; and she
said she knew him to be the devil or he parted with her'.[90]
In Ireland one of the earliest known trials for ritual witchcraft occurred
in 1324, the accused being the Lady Alice Kyteler. She was said to have met
the Devil, who was called Robin son of Artis, 'in specie cuiusdam aethiopis
cum duobus sociis ipso maioribus et longioribus'.[91]
In France also there is a considerable amount of evidence. The earliest
example is in 1430, when Pierronne, a follower of Joan of Arc, was put to
death by fire as a witch. She persisted to the end in her statement, which
she made on oath, that God appeared to her in human form and spoke to her
as friend to friend, and that the last time she had seen him he was clothed
in a scarlet cap and a long white robe.[92] Estebene de Cambrue of the
parish of Amou in 1567 said that the witches danced round a great stone,
'sur laquelle est assis un grand homme noir, qu'elles appellent
Monsieur'.[93] Jeanne Hervillier of Verberie near Compiegne, in 1578,
daughter of a witch who had been condemned and burnt, 'confessa qu'a l'aage
de douze ans sa mere la presenta au diable, en forme d'vn grand homme noir,
& vestu de noir, botte, esperonne, auec vne espee au coste, & vn cheual
noir a la porte'.[94] Francoise Secretain of Saint Claud in 1598 stated
'qu'elle s'estoit donnee au Diable, lequel auoit lors la semblance d'vn
grand homme noir'; Thievenne Paget, from the same district, 'racontoit que
le Diable s'apparut a elle la premiere fois en plein midy, en forme d'vn
grand homme noir'; and Antide Colas 'disoit, que Satan s'apparut a elle en
forme d'vn homme, de grande stature, ayant sa barbe & ses habillemens
noirs'.[95] Jeanne d'Abadie, in the Basses-Pyrenees, 1609, 'dit qu'elle y
vid le Diable en forme d'homme noir & hideux, auec six cornes en la teste,
parfois huict'.[96] Silvain Nevillon, tried at Orleans in 1614, 'dit que le
Sabbat se tenoit dans vne maison, ou il vit a la cheminee co[~m]e ledit
Sabbat se faisoit, vn homme noir, duquel on ne voyoit point la teste. Vit
aussi vn grand homme noir a l'opposite de celuy de la cheminee. Dit que les
deux Diables qui estoient au Sabbat, l'vn s'appelloit l'Orthon, & l'autre
Traisnesac.'[97] Two sisters were tried in 1652: one 'dict avoir trouve ung
diable en ghuise d'ung home a pied'; the other said that 'il entra dans sa
chambre en forme d'ung chat par une fenestre et se changea en la posture
d'un home vestu de rouge'.[98]
In Belgium, Digna Robert, 1565, met 'un beau jeune homme vetu d'une casaque
noire, qui etait le diable, et se nommait Barrebon.... A la Noel passee, un
autre diable, nomme Crebas, est venu pres d'elle.' Elisabeth Vlamynx of
Ninove in the Pays d'Alost, 1595, was accused 'que vous avez, avant comme
apres le repas, vous septieme ou huitieme, danse sous les arbres en
compagnie de votre Belzebuth et d'un autre demon, tous deux en pourpoint
blanc a la mode francaise'. Josine Labyns in 1664, aged about forty: 'passe
dix-neuf ans le diable s'est offert a vos yeux, derriere votre habitation,
sous la figure d'un grand seigneur, vetu en noir et portant des plumes sur
son chapeau.'[99]
In the copper mines of Sweden, 1670, the Devil appeared as a minister.[100]
In the province of Elfdale in the same year his dress was not the usual
black of that period: 'He used to appear, but in different Habits; but for
the most part we saw him in a gray Coat, and red and blue Stockings; he had
a red Beard, a high-crown'd Hat, with Linnen of divers colours wrapt about
it, and long Garters upon his Stockings.'[101] This is not unlike the
costume of Thom Reid as described, more than a century before, by Bessie
Dunlop.