Churches and high walls ... he gives us a horn with a Salve in it,
wherewith we do anoint our selves; and then he gives us a Saddle, with
a Hammer and a wooden nail, thereby to fix the Saddle; whereupon we
call upon the Devil, and away we go.... For their journey they said
they made use of all sorts of Instruments, of Beasts, of Men, of Spits
and Posts. What the manner of their Journey is, God alone knows....
Blockula is scituated in a delicate large Meadow whereof you can see
no end. They went into a little Meadow distinct from the other, where
the Beasts went that they used to ride on: But the Men whom they made
use of in their Journey, stood in the House by the Gate in a
slumbering posture, sleeping against the wall.'[355]
Human beings were also said to be ridden upon in other places besides
Sweden. Agnes Spark of Forfar (1661) said she 'hard people ther present did
speake of Isabell Shirie, and say that shoe was the devill's horse, and
that the divill did allwayes ryde upon hir, and that shoe was shoad lyke
ane mare, or ane horse'.[356] Ann Armstrong, of a Northumbrian Coven
(1673)--
'saith, that since she gave information against severall persons who
ridd her to severall places where they had conversation with the
divell, she hath beene severall times lately ridden by Anne Driden and
Anne Forster, and was last night ridden by them to the rideing house
in the close on the common.... Whilst she was lying in that condition
[i.e. "a fitt"], which happened one night a little before Christmas,
about the change of the moone, the informant see the said Anne Forster
come with a bridle, and bridled her and ridd upon her crosse-leggd,
till they come to (the) rest of her companions at Rideing millne
bridg-end, where they usually mett. And when she light of her back,
pulld the bridle of this informer's head, now in the likenesse of a
horse; but, when the bridle was taken of, she stood up in her own
shape.... And when they had done, bridled this informer, and the rest
of the horses, and rid home.... Upon Collupp Munday last, being the
tenth of February, the said persons met at Allensford, where this
informant was ridden upon by an inchanted bridle by Michael Aynsley
and Margaret his wife. Which inchanted bridle, when they tooke it from
her head, she stood upp in her owne proper person.... On Monday last
at night, she, being in her father's house, see one Jane Baites, of
Corbridge, come in the forme of a gray catt with a bridle hanging on
her foote, and breath'd upon her and struck her dead, and bridled her,
and rid upon her in the name of the devill southward, but the name of
the place she does not now remember. And the said Jane allighted and
pulld the bridle of her head.'[357]
The method of locomotion which has most impressed the popular imagination
and has become proverbial was riding on a stick, generally said to be a
broomstick. It must, however, be remembered that one of the earliest cases
on record of stick-riding does not definitely state that the witch flew
through the air. This was the case of the Lady Alice Kyteler in 1324, when
'in rifleing the closet of the ladie, they found a Pipe of oyntment,
wherewith she greased a staffe, upon the which she ambled and galloped
through thick and thin, when and in what maner she listed'.[358] Though
Holinshed is not always a reliable authority, it is worth while to compare
this account with the stick-riding of the Arab witches and the tree-riding
of the Aberdeen Covens (see pp. 110, 134).
The number of cases vouched for by the persons who actually performed or
saw the feat of riding on a stick through the air are disappointingly few.
Guillaume Edeline, prior of St. Germain-en-Laye (1453), 'se mit en telle
servitude de l'ennemy, qu'il luy convenoit estre en certain lieu toutes
fois qu'il estoit par ledit ennemy evocque: ouquel lieu ilz avoient
accoustume faire leur consistoire, et ne luy falloit que monter sur ung
balay, qu'aussi-tost il estoit prestement transporte la ou ledit
consistoire se faisoit'.[359] The Guernsey witch, Martin Tulouff (1563),
confessed '[*q] il soy est trouve avecq la dite viellesse ou elle
chevaucha ung genest et luy ung aultre, et [*q] lad^te viellesse monta a
mont la chemynee et [*q] il en perdyt la veue et [*q] elle disoet devat
[*q] monter "Va au nom du diable et luciffer dess[~q=] roches et espynes"
et [*q] po^r luy il ne pouvoet ainsy faire, et d^t [*q] sa mere a
chevauche le genest [*p] IV ou V foys et [*q] il l'a veue monter a mont la
cheminee'.[360] Danaeus (1575) sums up the evidence of the witches
themselves: 'He promiseth that himself will conuay them thither, that are
so weak that they cannot trauaile of themselues: which many tymes he doth
by meanes of a staffe or rod, which he deliuereth vnto th[~e], or promiseth
to doo it by force of a certen oyntment, which he will geue them: and
sometimes he offreth them an horse to ride vpon.'[361] Boguet's experience
(1598) is more dramatic than that of Danaeus: 'Les autres y vont, tantost
sur vn Bouc, tantost sur vn cheual, & tantost sur vn ballet, ou ramasse,
sortans ces derniers de leurs maisons le plus souuent par la cheminee....
Les vns encor se frottent auparauant de certaine graisse, & oignement: les
autres ne se frottent en aucune facon.'[362] He also records the actual
evidence of individual witches: Francoise Secretain said 'qu'elle avoit
este vne infinite de fois au Sabbat & assemblee des Sorciers ... & qu'elle
y alloit sur vn baston blanc, qu'elle mettoit entre ses
iambes.[363]--Claudine Boban, ieune fille confessa, qu'elle, & sa mere
montoient sur vne ramasse,[364] & que sortans le contremont de la cheminee
elles alloient par l'air en ceste facon au Sabbat.'[365] In Belgium Claire
Goessen (1603) confessed 'qu'elle s'est trouvee a diverses assemblees
nocturnes tenues par lui, dans lesquelles elle s'est laissee transporter au
moyen d'un baton enduit d'onguent'.[366] Isobell Gowdie (1662) was fully
reported as regards the methods of locomotion used by the witches, though
in other places her evidence is unfortunately cut short:
'I haid a little horse, and wold say, "Horse and Hattock, in the
Divellis name!" And than ve void flie away, quhair ve vold, be ewin as
strawes wold flie wpon an hie-way. We will flie lyk strawes quhan we
pleas; wild-strawes and corne-strawes wilbe horses to ws, an ve put
thaim betwixt our foot, and say, "Horse and Hattok, in the Divellis
name!" ... Quhan we wold ryd, we tak windle-strawes, or been-stakes
[bean-stalks], and put them betwixt owr foot, and say thryse,
Horse and Hattok, horse and goe,
Horse and pellattis, ho! ho!
and immediatlie we flie away whair euir we wold.... All the Coeven did
fflie lyk cattis, bot Barbara Ronald, in Brightmanney, and I, still
[always] read on an horse, quhich ve vold mak of a straw or
beein-stalk.'[367]
Julian Cox (1664) said 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, born up about a yard and an half from the ground. Two of them
she formerly knew, which was a Witch and a Wizzard.... The third person she
knew not. He came in the shape of a black Man.'[368] Two of the New England
witches (1692) confessed to riding on a pole; Mary Osgood, wife of Capt.
Osgood of Andover, 'was carried through the air to five-mile pond ... she
was transported back again through the air, in company with the forenamed
persons, in the same manner as she went, and believes they were carried
upon a pole'.[369] Goody Foster's evidence was reported by two authors:
'One Foster confessed that the Devil carry'd them on a pole, to a
Witch-meeting; but the pole broke, and she hanging about [Martha] Carrier's
neck, they both fell down, and she then received an hurt by the Fall,
whereof she was not at this very time recovered.'[370] The second account
is substantially the same: 'In particular Goody F. said (_Inter alia_) that
she with two others (one of whom acknowledged the same) Rode from Andover
to the same Village Witch meeting upon a stick above ground, and that in
the way the stick brake, and gave the said F. a fall: whereupon, said she,
I got a fall and hurt of which I am still sore.'[371]
_Site._--The Sabbath seems to have been originally held on a fixed site. So
much so was this the case that de Lancre is able to say, 'communement ils
l'appellent Aquelarre, qui signifie Lane de Bouc, comme qui diroit la lane
ou lade, ou le Bouc conuoque ses assemblees. Et de faict les Sorciers qui
confessent, nomm[~e]t le lieu pour la chose, & la chose ou Assemblee pour
le lieu: tellement qu'encore que proprement Lane de Bouc, soit le Sabbat
qui se tient es landes, si est-ce qu'ils appellent aussi bien Lane de Bouc,
le Sabbat qui se tient es Eglises, & es places des villages, paroisses,
maisons, & autres lieux.'[372] The confusion of the original _Lane de
Bouc_, i.e. the Sabbath or Great Assembly, with local meetings is thus
shown to be due to the inaccuracy of the witches themselves; and therefore
it is not surprising that de Lancre and other authors should also fail to
distinguish between the two. Still, in many of the records there are
certain indications by which it is possible to recognize the localities
where the real Sabbath, the true _Lane de Bouc_, was held.
De Lancre himself notes that the Sabbath must be held near a lake, stream,
or water of some kind.[373] Bodin, however, gives a better clue, 'Les lieux
des assemblees des Sorciers sont notables, & signalez de quelques arbres,
ou croix.'[374] The _croix_ is clearly the Christian form of the standing
stone which is a marked feature in many descriptions of the Sabbath; and
Bodin's statement recalls one of the laws of Cnut in the eleventh century,
'We earnestly forbid every heathenism: heathenism is, that men worship
idols; that is that they worship heathen gods, or stones, or forest trees
of any kind.'
Estebene de Cambrue (1567) said, 'Le lieu de ceste grande conuocation
s'appelle generalement par tout le pays la Lanne de Bouc. Ou ils se mettent
a dancer a l'entour d'vne pierre, qui est plantee audit lieu, sur laquelle
est assis vn grand homme noir.'[375] At Poictiers in 1574 four witches, one
woman and three men, said that they went 'trois fois l'an, a l'assemblee
generale, ou plusieurs Sorciers se trouuoy[~e]t pres d'vne croix d'vn
carrefour, qui seruoit d'enseigne'.[376] At Aberdeen in 1596 the witches
acknowledged that they danced round the market cross and the 'fische croce'
on All-Hallow-eve; and also round 'ane gray stane' at the foot of the hill
at Craigleauch.[377] Margaret Johnson (1633) said 'shee was not at the
greate meetinge at Hoarestones at the Forest of Pendle upon All Saints
day'.[378] Though no stone is actually mentioned the name suggests that
there had been, or still were, one or more stones standing in that place.
The Swedish witches (1669) seem to have used the same site for both kinds
of meetings; _Blockula_ seems to have been a building of some kind, set in
a meadow which was entered by a painted gate; within the building were
rooms and some kind of chapel for the religious service.[379] The New
England recorders (1692) did not enter into much detail, but even among
them the fact is mentioned that there was 'a General Meeting of the
Witches, in a Field at _Salem_-Village'.[380]
In modern times the identification of stones or of certain places with the
Devil or with witch meetings is very noticeable. Out of innumerable
instances I will mention only a few. In Guernsey the Catioroc is always
identified as the site of the Sabbath. In Belgium 'a Godarville (Hainaut)
se trouve un _tunnel_ hante par les sorcieres; elles y tiennent leur
sabbat'.[381]
'Un bloc de pierre isole et d'aspect extraordinaire est generalement
appele _pierre du diable_. Exemples: A) le dolmen detruit pres de
Namur; B) la grande pierre en forme de table a demi encastree dans la
route qui conduit du village de Seny a celui d'Ellemelle (Candroz); C)
_le fais du diable_, bloc de gres d'environ 800 metres cubes, isole
dans la bruyere entre Wanne et Grand-Halleux pres de Stavelot; D) les
_murs du diable_ a Pepinster, &c.--Dans plusieurs cantons, il y a un
terrain que l'on appele _tchan de makral_, "champ des sorciers". C'est
le cas pres de Remouchamps, pres de Tongres, pres de la Gileppe et
pres de Grand-Halleux.'[382]
It is also noticeable how many of our own stone circles, such as the Nine
Maidens, the Dancing Maidens, and so on, are connected by tradition with
women who danced there on the Sabbath.
_Date._--It appears from the evidence that certain changes took place in
course of time in the religion; and, as might be expected, this is shown
very markedly in the festivals. The ancient festivals remained all through,
and to them were added the festivals of the succeeding religions. The
original celebrations belonged to the May-November year, a division of time
which follows neither the solstices nor the agricultural seasons; I have
shown below (pp. 130, 178) that there is reason to believe these festivals
were connected with the breeding seasons of the flocks and herds. The chief
festivals were: in the spring, May Eve (April 30), called Roodmas or Rood
Day in Britain and Walpurgis-Nacht in Germany; in the autumn, November Eve
(October 31), called in Britain Allhallow Eve. Between these two came: in
the winter, Candlemas (February 2); and in the summer, the Gule of August
(August 1), called Lammas in Britain. To these were added the festivals of
the solstitial invaders, Beltane at midsummer and Yule at midwinter; the
movable festival of Easter was also added, but the equinoxes were never
observed in Britain. On the advent of Christianity the names of the
festivals were changed, and the date of one--Roodmas--was slightly altered
so as to fall on May 3; otherwise the dates were observed as before, but
with ceremonies of the new religion. Therefore Boguet is justified in
saying that the witches kept all the Christian festivals. But the Great
Assemblies were always held on the four original days, and it is this fact
which makes it possible to distinguish with certainty between the Sabbath
and the Esbat whenever dates are mentioned.
De Lancre, generalizing from the evidence before him, says, 'Quelquefois il
y a des Sabbats & assemblees generales qui se font ordinairement les quatre
festes annuelles';[383] and he also gives the words of a witch, tried in
1567: 'Estebene de Cambrue dit que les Sorcieres n'alloient en la grande
assemblee & au grand Sabbat que quatre fois l'annee.'[384] The four actual
days are given in only one trial, that of Issobell Smyth at Forfar in 1661,
'By these meitings shee mett with him every quarter at Candlemas, Rud-day,
Lambemas, and Hallomas',[385] but it is very clear that these were the
regular days, from the mention of them individually in both England and
Scotland. At North Berwick 'Barbara Napier was accused of being present at
the convention on Lammas Eve at the New haven' [three Covens, i.e.
thirty-nine persons, were assembled]. 'And the said Barbara was accused
that she gave her bodily presence upon All Hallow even last was, 1590
years, to the frequent convention holden at the Kirk of North-Berwick,
where she danced endlong the Kirk-yard, and Gelie Duncan played on a trump,
John Fian, missellit, led the ring; Agnes Sampson and her daughters and all
the rest following the said Barbara, to the number of seven score
persons.'[386] The dittays against the witches of Aberdeen in 1596 show
that 'wpoun Hallowewin last bypast, att tuelff houris at ewin or thairby,
thow the said Thomas Leyis ... withe ane gryit number of vtheris witchis,
come to the mercatt and fische croce of Aberdene, wnder the conduct and
gyding of the Dewill present withe you, all in company, playing befoir yow
on his kynd of instrumentis. Ye all dansit about baythe the saidis croces,
and the meill mercatt, ane lang space of tyme.'[387] Christen Michell and
Bessie Thom had been not only at the Allhallow Eve meeting with Thomas
Leyis but also at another before that. 'Thow confessis that, thrie yeris
sensyn, vpon the Ruidday, airlie in the morning,' [Bessie Thom: 'befoir
sone rysing'] 'thow, accumpaniet with ... certan vtheris witchis, thy
devilische adherentis, convenit vpon Sainct Katherines Hill ... and thair,
vnder the conduct of Sathan, present with yow, playing befoir yow, efter
his forme, ye all dansit a devilische danse, rydand on treis, be a lang
space.'[388] In 1597 Issobell Richie, Margrat Og, Helene Rogie, Jonet
Lucas, Jonet Dauidsone, Issobell Oige, and Beatrice Robbie were accused of
a meeting at Craigleauche, near Aberdeen: 'Thow art indyttit for the being
at the twa devylische dances betuixt Lumfannand and Cragleauche, with
vmquhile Margerat Bane, vpon Alhalowewin last, quhair thow conferrit with
the Dewill.'[389] In Ayrshire in 1604 Patrik Lowrie and his
companion-witches were accused that they 'att Hallowevin in the yeir of God
foirsaid, assemblit thame selffis vpon Lowdon-hill, quhair thair appeirit
to thame ane devillische Spreit'.[390] Margaret Johnson, of the second
generation of Lancashire witches, in 1633 said 'shee was not at the greate
meetinge at Hartford in the Forrest of Pendle on All Saintes day'.[391]
Isobel Gowdie (Auldearne, 1662) does not enter into her usual detail, but
merely states that 'a Grand Meitting vold be about the end of ilk
Quarter'.[392]
Of the festivals belonging to later religions several mentions are made. De
Lancre, when giving a general account of the ceremonies, says that the
witches of the Basses-Pyrenees went to their assemblies at Easter and other
solemn festivals, and that their chief night was that of St. John the
Baptist.[393] Jane Bosdeau, from the Puy-de-Dome district (1594), bears
this out, for she went to a meeting with the Devil 'at Midnight on the Eve
of St. John'.[394] Antide Colas (1598) 'auoit este au Sabbat a vn chacun
bon iour de l'an, comme a Noel, a Pasques, a la feste de Dieu'.[395] Both
generations of Lancashire witches (1613 and 1633) kept Good Friday.[396]
Jonet Watson of Dalkeith (1661) was at a meeting 'about the tyme of the
last Baille-ffyre night'.[397] The Crook of Devon witches (1662) met on St.
Andrew's Day, at Yule.[398] In Connecticut (1662) the 'high frolic' was to
be held at Christmas.[399]
_Hour._--The actual hour at which the Sabbath was held is specified in very
few cases; it appears to have been a nocturnal assembly, beginning about
midnight and lasting till early dawn or cockcrow. 'Le coq s'oyt par fois es
sabbats sonnat la retraicte aux Sorciers.'[400]
In the Vosges in 1408 the meeting was held 'en la minuit et la deuxieme
heure'.[401] In Lorraine in 1589 'Johannes a Villa und Agathina des
Schneiders Francisci Weib, sagt, eine oder zwey Stunde vor Mitternacht were
die bequemste Zeit darzu'.[402] At North Berwick, in 1590, Agnes Sampson
arrived at the appointed place 'about eleven hours at even'.[403] The
Aberdeen witches in 1597 held their dance 'wpon Hallowewin last bypast, at
tuelff houris at ewin or thairby' (or more particularly) 'betuixt tuell &
ane houris at nycht'.[404] In 1598 the Lyons witch Francoise Secretain
'adioustoit qu'elle alloit tousiours au Sabbat enuiron la minuit, &
beaucoup d'autres sorciers, que i'ay eu en main, ont dit le mesme'. Antide
Colas, another Lyonnaise, went to the meeting on Christmas Eve between the
midnight mass and the mass at dawn.[405]
The only daylight meeting which can be identified as a Sabbath occurred at
Aberdeen, and may have been peculiar either to the locality or to the
May-Day festival; or it may have been simply the continuation of the
festival till the sun rose. Christen Michell and Bessie Thom were each
accused that 'vpon the Ruidday, thrie yeris sensyn bygane, airlie in the
morning, befoir sone rysing, thow convenit vpon Sanct Katherines Hill,
accumpaniet with a numer of thy devilische factioun and band, the Devill
your maister in cumpanie with yow'.[406]
2. _The Esbat_
_Business._--The Esbat differed from the Sabbath by being primarily for
business, whereas the Sabbath was purely religious. In both, feasting and
dancing brought the proceedings to a close. The business carried on at the
Esbat was usually the practice of magic for the benefit of a client or for
the harming of an enemy. Sometimes the Devil appears to have ordered his
followers to perform some action by which to impress the imagination of
those who believed in his power though they did not worship him. Very often
also the Esbat was for sheer enjoyment only, without any ulterior object,
as the following quotations show:
Estebene de Cambrue (1567), who is the authority for the name Esbat as
applied to local meetings, says that 'les petites assemblees qui se font
pres des villes ou parroisses, ou il n'y va que ceux du lieu, ils les
appellent les esbats: & se font ores en vn lieu de ladicte paroisse, ores
en vn autre, ou on ne faict que sauter & folastrer, le Diable n'y estant
auec tout son grand arroy comme aux grandes assemblees'.[407] Alesoun
Peirsoun (1588) was taken by a party of men and women, under the leadership
of a man in green, 'fordir nor scho could tell; and saw with thame pypeing
and mirrynes and gude scheir, and wes careit to Lowtheane, and saw wyne
punchounis with tassis with them'.[408] Jonet Barker (1643) said that 'scho
and ye said Margaret Lauder being w^{t}hin ye said Jonet Cranstones house
tua pyntis of beir war drukkin be thame thre togidder in ye said house at
quhilk ye devill appeirit to thame in ye liknes of ane tryme gentill man
and drank w^t thame all thre and that he Imbracet the said margaret lauder
in his armes at ye drinking of ye beir and put his arme about hir
waist'.[409] Isobel Bairdie (1649) was accused of meeting the Devil and
drinking with him, 'the devil drank to her, and she pledging him, drank
back again to him, and he pledged her, saying, _Grammercie, you are very
welcome_.'[410] Janet Brown (1649) 'was charged with having held a meeting
with the Devil appearing as a man, at the back of Broomhills, who was _at a
wanton play_ with Isobel Gairdner the elder, and Janet Thomson'.[411] In
Forfar Helen Guthrie (1661) confessed that she went to several meetings; at
one in the churchyard 'they daunced togither, and the ground under them wes
all fyre flauchter, and Andrew Watson hade his vsuale staff in his hand,
altho he be a blind man yet he daunced alse nimblie as any of the companye,
and made also great miriement by singing his old ballads, and that Isobell
Shyrrie did sing her song called Tinkletum Tankletum; and that the divill
kist every one of the women'. At another meeting 'they all daunced togither
a whyle, and then went to Mary Rynd's house and sat doune together at the
table ... and made them selfes mirrie; and the divell made much of them
all, but especiallie of Mary Rynd, and he kist them all'.[412] Elspet Bruce
of the same Coven, 'by turning the sive and sheires, reased the divell, who
being werry hard to be laid againe, ther wes a meiting of witches for
laying of him ... and at this meiting they had pipe-music and
dauncing'.[413] Isobell Gowdie (1662) gives an account of one of these
joyous assemblies: 'We killed an ox, in Burgie, abowt the dawing of the
day, and we browght the ox with ws hom to Aulderne, and did eat all amongst
ws, in an hows in Aulderne, and feasted on it.'[414] Marie Lamont (1662)
also enjoyed her meetings; the first at which she was present was held in
Kettie Scott's house, where the devil 'sung to them, and they dancit; he
gave them wyn to drink, and wheat bread to eat, and they warr all very
mirrie. She confesses, at that meiting the said Kettie Scott made her first
acquaintance with the devill, and caused her to drink to him, and shak
hands with him.--Shee was with Katie Scot and others at a meitting at
Kempoch, wher they danced, and the devil kissed them when they went
away.'[415] Annaple Thomson and the other witches of Borrowstowness
(1679)--
'wis at several mettings with the devill in the linkes of
Borrowstonenes, and in the howsse of you Bessie Vickar, and ye did
eatt and drink with the devill, and with on another, and with witches
in hir howss in the night tyme; and the devill and the said Wm Craw
browght the ale which ye drank, extending to about sevin gallons, from
the howss of Elizabeth Hamilton; and yow the said Annaple had ane
other metting abowt fyve wekes ago, when yow wis goeing to the
coalhill of Grange, and he inveitted you to go alongst, and drink with
him.... And yow the said Margret Hamilton has bein the devill's
servant these eight or nyne yeeres bygane; and he appered and
conversed with yow at the town-well at Borrowstownes, and several
tymes in yowr awin howss, and drank severall choppens of ale with
you.'[416]