in all classes of society: 'The justices of the peace were seen familiarly
conversing with the foul fiend, to whom one in Dumfries-shire actually
offered up his firstborn child immediately after birth, stepping out with
it in his arms to the staircase, where the devil stood ready, as it was
suspected, to receive the innocent victim.'[624] In the later witch-trials
the sacrifice of the child seems to have been made after its burying, as in
the case of the Witch of Calder in 1720, who confessed that she had given
the Devil 'the body of a dead child of her own to make a roast of'.[625]
It is possible that the killing of children by poison was one method of
sacrifice when the cult was decadent and victims difficult to obtain.
Reginald Scot's words, written in 1584, suggest that this was the case:
'This must be an infallible rule, that euerie fortnight, or at the least
euerie moneth, each witch must kill one child at the least for hir
part.'[626] Sinistrari d'Ameno, writing about a century later, says the
same: 'They 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.'[627] It is impossible to believe in any great
frequency of this sacrifice, but there is considerable foundation in fact
for the statement that children were killed, and it accounts as nothing
else can for the cold-blooded murders of children of which the witches were
sometimes accused. The accusations seem to have been substantiated on
several occasions, the method of sacrifice being by poison.[628]
The sacrifice of a child was often performed as a means of procuring
certain magical materials or powers, which were obtained by preparing the
sacrificed bodies in several ways. Scot says that the flesh of the child
was boiled and consumed by the witches for two purposes. Of the thicker
part of the concoction 'they make ointments, whereby they ride in the aire;
but the thinner potion they put into flaggons, whereof whosoeuer drinketh,
obseruing certeine ceremonies, immediatelie becommeth a maister or rather a
mistresse in that practise and facultie.'[629] The Paris Coven confessed
that they 'distilled' the entrails of the sacrificed child after Guibourg
had celebrated the mass for Madame de Montespan, the method being probably
the same as that described by Scot. A variant occurs in both France and
Scotland, and is interesting as throwing light on the reasons for some of
the savage rites of the witches: 'Pour ne confesser iamais le secret de
l'escole, on faict au sabbat vne paste de millet noir, auec de la poudre du
foye de quelque enfant non baptise qu'on faict secher, puis meslant cette
poudre avec ladicte paste, elle a cette vertu de taciturnite: si bien que
qui en mange ne confesse iamais.'[630] At Forfar, in 1661, Helen Guthrie
and four others exhumed the body of an unbaptized infant, which was buried
in the churchyard near the south-east door of the church, 'and took
severall peices therof, as the feet, hands, a pairt of the head, and a
pairt of the buttock, and they made a py therof, that they might eat of it,
that by this meanes they might never make a confession (as they thought) of
their witchcraftis.'[631] Here the idea of sympathetic magic is very clear;
by eating the flesh of a child who had never spoken articulate words, the
witches' own tongues would be unable to articulate.
4. _Sacrifice of the God._--The sacrifice of the witch-god was a decadent
custom when the records were made in the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries. The accounts of the actual rite come from France and Belgium,
where a goat was substituted for the human victim. The sacrifice was by
fire in both those countries, and there are indications that it was the
same in Great Britain. It is uncertain whether the interval of time between
the sacrifices was one, seven, or nine years.
Bodin and Boguet, each writing from his own knowledge of the subject, give
very similar accounts, Bodin's being the more detailed. In describing a
trial which took place in Poictiers in 1574, he says: 'La se trouuoit vn
grand bouc noir, qui parloit comme vne personne aux assistans, & dansoyent
a l'entour du bouc: puis vn chacun luy baisoit le derriere, auec vne
chandelle ardente: & cela faict, le bouc se consommoit en feu, & de la
c[~e]dre chacun en prenoit pour faire mourir le b[oe]uf [etc.]. Et en fin
le Diable leur disoit d'vne voix terrible des mots, Vengez vous ou vous
mourrez.'[632] Boguet says that in the Lyons district in 1598 the Devil
celebrated mass, and 'apres auoir prins la figure d'vn Bouc, se consume en
feu, & reduit en cendre, laquelle les Sorciers recueillent, & cachent pour
s'en seruir a l'execution de leurs desseins pernicieux & abominables'.[633]
In 1603, a Belgian witch, Claire Goessen, was present at such a sacrifice,
and her account is therefore that of an eyewitness. 'Elle s'est laissee
transporter a l'assemblee nocturne de Lembeke, ou, apres la danse, elle a,
comme tous les assistans, baise un bouc a l'endroit de sa queue, lequel
bouc fut ensuite brule et ses cendres distribuees et emportees par les
convives.'[634] Jeanne de Belloc in 1609 'a veu le Grand maistre de
l'assemblee se ietter dans les flammes au sabbat, se faire brusler iusques
a ce qu'il estoit reduit en poudre, & les grandes & insignes sorcieres
prendre les dictes poudres pour ensorceler les petits enfants & les mener
au sabbat, & en prenoient aussi dans la bouche pour ne reueler
iamais'.[635] A French witch in 1652 declared that at the Sabbath 'le
diable s'y at mis en feu et en donne des cendres lesquelles tous faisaient
voller en l'air pour faire mancquer les fruits de la terre'.[636] At Lille
in 1661 the girls in Madame Bourignon's orphanage stated that 'on y adoroit
une bete; & qu'on faisoit avec elle des infamies; & puis sur la fin on la
bruloit, & chacun en prenoit des cendres, avec lesquelles on faisoit
languir ou mourir des personnes, ou autres animaux'.[637]
The collection and use of the ashes by the worshippers point to the fact
that we have here a sacrifice of the god of fertility. Originally the
sprinkling of the ashes on fields or animals or in running water was a
fertility charm; but when Christianity became sufficiently powerful to
attempt the suppression of the ancient religion, such practices were
represented as evil, and were therefore said to be 'pour faire mancquer les
fruits de la terre'.
The animal-substitute for the divine victim is usually the latest form of
the sacrifice; the intervening stages were first the volunteer, then the
criminal, both of whom were accorded the power and rank of the divine being
whom they personated. The period of time during which the substitute acted
as the god varied in different places; so also did the interval between the
sacrifices. Frazer has pointed out that the human victim, whether the god
himself or his human substitute, did not content himself by merely not
attempting to escape his destiny, but in many cases actually rushed on his
fate, and died by his own hand or by voluntary submission to the
sacrificer.
The witch-cult being a survival of an ancient religion, many of the beliefs
and rites of these early religions are to be found in it. Of these the
principal are: the voluntary substitute, the temporary transference of
power to the substitute, and the self-devotion to death. As times changed
and the ceremonies could no longer be performed openly, the sacrifices took
on other forms. I have already suggested that the child-murders, of which
the witches were often convicted, were in many cases probably offerings
made to the God. In the same way, when the time came for the God or his
substitute to be sacrificed, recourse was had to methods which hid the real
meaning of the ceremony; and the sacrifice of the incarnate deity, though
taking place in public, was consummated at the hands of the public
executioner. 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.
Read in the light of this theory much of the mystery which surrounds the
fate of Joan of Arc is explained. She was put to death as a witch, and the
conduct of her associates during her military career, as well as the
evidence at her trial, bear out the fact that she belonged to the ancient
religion, not to the Christian. Nine years after her death in the flames
her commander, Gilles de Rais, was tried on the same charge and condemned
to the same fate. The sentence was not carried out completely in his case;
he was executed by hanging, and the body was snatched from the fire and
buried in Christian ground. Like Joan herself, Gilles received a
semi-canonization after death, and his shrine was visited by nursing
mothers. Two centuries later Major Weir offered himself up and was executed
as a witch in Edinburgh, refusing to the end all attempts to convert him to
the Christian point of view.
The belief that the witch must be burnt and the ashes scattered was so
ingrained in the popular mind that, when the severity of the laws began to
relax, remonstrances were made by or to the authorities. In 1649 the Scotch
General Assembly has a record: 'Concerning the matter of the buriall of
the Lady Pittadro, who, being vnder a great scandall of witchcraft, and
being incarcerat in the Tolbuith of this burgh during her triall before the
Justice, died in prison, The Comission of the Generall Assembly, having
considered the report of the Comittee appointed for that purpose, Doe give
their advyse to the Presbyterie of Dumfermling to show their dislike of
that fact of the buriall of the Lady Pittadro, in respect of the maner and
place, and that the said Presbyterie may labour to make the persons who hes
buried her sensible of their offence in so doeing; and some of the persons
who buried hir, being personallie present, are desired by the Comission to
shew themselvis to the Presbyterie sensible of their miscarriage
therein.'[638]
At Maidstone in 1652 'Anne Ashby, alias Cobler, Anne Martyn, Mary Browne,
Anne Wilson, and Mildred Wright of Cranbrook, and Mary Read, of Lenham,
being legally convicted, were according to the Laws of this Nation,
adjudged to be hanged, at the common place of Execution. Some there were
that wished rather they might be burnt to Ashes; alledging that it was a
received opinion among many, that the body of a witch being burnt, her
bloud is prevented thereby from becomming hereditary to her Progeny in the
same evill.'[639] The witches themselves also held the belief that they
ought to die by fire. Anne Foster was tried for witchcraft at Northampton
in 1674: 'after Sentence of Death was past upon her, she mightily desired
to be Burned; but the Court would give no Ear to that, but that she should
be hanged at the Common place of Execution.'[640]
9. _Magic Words_
The magic words known to the witches were used only for certain definite
purposes, the most important use being to raise the Devil. I have omitted
the charms which are founded on Christian prayers and formulas, and quote
only those which appear to belong to the witch-cult.
In the section on _Familiars_ it will be seen how the witches divined by
means of animals, which animals were allotted to them by the Chief. In
auguries and divinations of this kind in every part of the world a form of
words is always used, and the augury is taken by the first animal of the
desired species which is seen after the charm is spoken.
Agnes Sampson, the leading witch of the North Berwick Coven, 1590, summoned
her familiar by calling 'Elva', and then divined by a dog, whom she
dismissed by telling him to 'depart by the law he lives on'. She also used
the formula, 'Haill, hola!', and 'Hola!' was also the cry when a cat was
cast into the sea to raise a storm.[641] A man-witch of Alest, 1593, gave
the devil's name as Abiron: 'quand il le vouloit voir il disoit: vien
Abiron, sinon ie te quitteray.'[642] Andro Man at Aberdeen, 1597,
'confessis that the Devill, thy maister, is rasit be the speking of the
word _Benedicite_, and is laid agane be tacking of a dog vnder thy left
oxster in thi richt hand, and casting the same in his mouth, and speking
the word _Maikpeblis_.--He grantit that this word _Benedicite_ rasit the
Dewill, and _Maikpeblis_ laid him againe, strikin him on the faice with ane
deice with the left hand.'[643] Alexander Hamilton of East Lothian, 1630,
when covenanting with the devil, had 'ane battoun of fir in his hand the
devill than gave the said Alexr command to tak that battoun quhan evir he
had ado with him and therewt to strek thruse upone the ground and to
chairge him to ruse up foule theiff'; the divining animals in this case
were crows, cats, and dogs.[644] Marie Lamont of Innerkip, 1662, was
instructed to call the Devil _Serpent_ when she desired to speak with
him.[645]
The Somerset witches, 1664, cried out _Robin_ at an appointed place, and
the Master then appeared in his proper form as a man: Elizabeth Style and
Alice Duke also called him _Robin_ when summoning him privately, and
Elizabeth Style added, 'O Sathan give me my purpose', before saying what
she wished done.[646] The Swedish witches, 1669, called their Chief with
the cry, 'Antecessor, come and carry us to Blockula'; this they did at an
appointed place, and the Devil then appeared as a man.[647]
The words used before starting to a meeting are rarely recorded; only a few
remain. The earliest example is from Guernsey in 1563, when Martin Tulouff
heard an old witch cry as she bestrode a broomstick, 'Va au nom du diable
et luciffer [p=] dess[~q=] roches et espynes.' He then lost sight of her,
with the inference that she flew through the air, though he acknowledged
that he himself was not so successful.[648] The witches of the
Basses-Pyrenees, 1609, anointed themselves before starting, and repeated
the words 'Emen hetan, emen hetan', which de Lancre translates 'Ici et la,
ici et la'. 'Quelquefois plus furieuses elles se batent entre elles mesmes,
en disant, Ie suis le Diable, ie n'ay rien qui ne soit a toy, en ton nom
Seigneur cette tienne seruante s'oingt, & dois estre quelque iour Diable &
maling Esprit comme toy.' When, crossing water they cried, 'Haut la coude,
Quillet,' upon which they could cross without getting wet; and when going a
long distance they said, 'Pic suber hoeilhe, en ta la lane de bouc bien
m'arrecoueille.'[649] Isobel Gowdie, 1662, gives two variants of the magic
words used on these occasions: the first, 'Horse and hattock, in the
Divellis name' is not unlike the form given by Martin Tulouff; the second
is longer, 'Horse and hattock, horse and goe, Horse and pellattis, ho!
ho!'[650] The Somerset witches, 1664, when starting to the meeting, said,
'Thout, tout a tout, tout, throughout and about'; and when returning,
'Rentum tormentum'. At parting they cried, 'A Boy! merry meet, merry
part.'[651] They also had a long form of words which were used when
applying the flying ointment, but these are not recorded.
Other magical words were used at the religious services of the witches in
the Basses-Pyrenees (1609). At the elevation of the host the congregation
cried, '"Aquerra goity, Aquerra beyty, Aquerra goity, Aquerra beyty," qui
veut dire _Cabron arriba, Cabron abaro (sic)_'; at the elevation of the
chalice at a Christian service they said, 'Corbeau noir, corbeau noir.'
There were two forms of words to be used when making the sign of the cross;
the first was, 'In nomine Patrica, Aragueaco Petrica, Agora, Agora
Valentia, Iouanda, goure gaitz goustia,' translated as 'Au nom de Patrique,
Petrique, d'Arragon, a cette heure a cette heure Valence, tout nostre mal
est passe'. The second roused de Lancre's horror as peculiarly blasphemous:
'In nomine patrica, Aragueaco Petrica, Gastellaco Ianicot, Equidae ipordian
pot,' 'au nom de Patrique, petrique d'Arragon. Iannicot de Castille faictes
moy vn baiser au derriere.'[652] The mention of the ancient Basque god
Janicot makes this spell unusually interesting. As the dances were also a
religious rite the words used then must be recorded here. Bodin gives the
formula, 'Har, har, diable, diable, saute icy, saute la, ioue icy, ioue la:
Et les autres disoyent sabath sabath.'[653] The word _diable_ is clearly
Bodin's own interpellation for the name of the God, for the Guernsey
version, which is currently reported to be used at the present day, runs
'Har, har, Hou, Hou, danse ici', etc.; Hou being the name of an ancient
Breton god.[654] Jean Weir (1670) stated that at the instigation of some
woman unnamed she put her foot on a cloth on the floor with her hand upon
the crown of her head, and repeated thrice, 'All my cross and troubles go
to the door with thee.'[655] This seems to have been an admission ceremony,
but the words are of the same sentiment as the one recorded by de Lancre,
'tout notre mal est passe.'
There were also certain magical effects supposed to be brought about by the
use of certain words. Martin Tulouff (1563) claimed that he could bewitch
cows so that they gave blood instead of milk, by saying 'Butyrum de
armento', but he admitted that he also used powders to accomplish his
purpose.[656] Isobel Gowdie (1662) described how the witches laid a broom
or a stool in their beds to represent themselves during their absence at a
meeting. By the time that this record was made the witches evidently
believed that the object took on the exact appearance of the woman, having
forgotten its original meaning as a signal to show where she had gone. The
words used on these occasions show no belief in the change of appearance of
the object:
'I lay down this besom [or stool] in the Devil's name,
Let it not stir till I come again.'
Her statements regarding the change of witches into animals I have examined
in the section on Familiars (p. 234). The words used to effect these
changes are given in full. When a witch wished to take on the form of a
hare she said:
'I sall goe intill ane haire,
With sorrow, and sych, and meikle caire;
And I sall goe in the Divellis nam,
Ay quhill I com hom againe.'
To change into a cat or a crow the last two lines were retained unaltered,
but the first two were respectively,
'I sall goe intill ane catt,
With sorrow, and sych, and a blak shot'
or
'I sall goe intill a craw,
With sorrow, and sych, and a blak thraw.'
To return into human form the witch said:
'Haire, haire, God send thee caire.
I am in an haire's liknes just now,
Bot I sal be in a womanis liknes ewin now.'
From a cat or a crow, the words were 'Cat, cat, God send thee a blak shott'
or 'Craw, craw, God send thee a blak thraw', with the last two lines as
before. When the witch in animal form entered the house of another witch,
she would say, 'I conjure thee, Goe with me'; on which the second witch
would turn into the same kind of animal as the first. If, however, they met
in the open, the formula was slightly different, 'Divell speid the, Goe
thow with me,' the result being the same.[657]
The Somerset trials record the words used for cursing anything. These were
simply 'A Pox take it', the curse being supposed to take effect at once. If
the curse were pronounced over an image of a person the words were 'A Pox
on thee, I'le spite thee'.[658]
Alexander Elder's grace over meat is probably a corrupt form of some
ancient rite:
'We eat this meat in the Divellis nam,
With sorrow, and sych, and meikle shame;
We sall destroy hows and hald;
Both sheip and noat in till the fald.
Litle good sall come to the fore
Of all the rest of the litle store.'[659]
The 'conjuring of cats' was a distinct feature, and is clearly derived from
an early form of sacrifice. The details are recorded only in Scotland, and
it is possible that Scotland is the only country in which it occurred,
though the sanctity of the cat in other places suggests that the omission
in the records is accidental.
In the dittay against John Fian, 1590, he was 'fylit, for the chaissing of
ane catt in Tranent; in the quhilk chaise, he was careit heich aboue the
ground, with gryt swyftnes, and as lychtlie as the catt hir selff, ower ane
heicher dyke, nor he was able to lay his hand to the heid off:--And being
inquyrit, to quhat effect he chaissit the samin? Ansuerit, that in ane
conversatioune haldin at Brumhoillis, Sathan commandit all that were
present, to tak cattis; lyke as he, for obedience to Sathan, chaissit the
said catt, purpoiselie to be cassin in the sea, to raise windis for
distructioune of schippis and boitis.'[660] Agnes Sampson of the same Coven
as Fian confessed 'that at the time when his Majestie was in Denmark, shee
being accompanied by the parties before speciallie named, tooke a cat and
christened it, and afterwards bounde to each part of that cat, the cheefest
parte of a dead man, and severall joyntis of his bodie: And that in the
night following, the saide cat was convayed into the middest of the sea by
all the witches, sayling in their riddles or cives, as is aforesaid, and so
left the said cat right before the towne of Leith in Scotland. This doone,
there did arise such a tempest in the sea, as a greater hath not bene
seene.'[661] The legal record of this event is more detailed and less
dramatic; the sieves are never mentioned, the witches merely walking to the
Pier-head in an ordinary and commonplace manner. The Coven at Prestonpans
sent a letter to the Leith Coven that--
'they sould mak the storm vniuersall thro the sea. And within aucht
dayes eftir the said Bill [letter] wes delyuerit, the said Agnes
Sampsoune, Jonett Campbell, Johnne Fean, Gelie Duncan, and Meg Dyn
baptesit ane catt in the wobstaris hous, in maner following: Fyrst,
twa of thame held ane fingar, in the ane syd of the chimnay cruik, and
ane vther held ane vther fingar in the vther syd, the twa nebbis of
the fingars meting togidder; than thay patt the catt thryis throw the
linkis of the cruik, and passit itt thryis vnder the chimnay.
Thaireftir, att Begie Toddis hous, thay knitt to the foure feit of the
catt, foure jountis of men; quhilk being done, the sayd Jonet fechit
it to Leith; and about mydnycht, sche and the twa Linkhop, and twa
wyfeis callit Stobbeis, came to the Pier-heid, and saying thir words,
'See that thair be na desait amangis ws'; and thay caist the catt in
the see, sa far as thay mycht, quhilk swam owre and cam agane; and
thay that wer in the Panis, caist in ane vthir catt in the see att xj
houris. Eftir quhilk, be thair sorcerie and inchantment, the boit
perischit betuix Leith and Kinghorne; quhilk thing the Deuill did, and
went befoir, with ane stalf in his hand.'[662]
Beigis Todd was concerned in another 'conjuring of cats', this time at
Seaton.
'Eftir thay had drukkin togidder a certane space, thay, in thair
devillische maner, tuik ane katt, and drew the samyn nyne tymes throw
the said Beigis cruik; and thaireftir come with all thair speed to
Seaton-thorne, be-north the [3]et.... And thay thaireftir past
altogidder, with the Devill, to the irne [3]et [iron gate] of Seatoun,
quhair of new thay tuik ane cat, and drew the samyn nyne tymes throw
the said Irne-[3]ett: And immediatlie thaireftir, came to the barne,
foiranent George Feudaris dur, quhair thai christened the said catt,
and callit hir _Margaret_: And thaireftir come all bak agane to the
Deane-fute, quhair first thai convenit, and cuist the kat to the
Devill.'[663]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 465: Danaeus, ch. iv.]
[Footnote 466: Boguet, pp. 131-9.]
[Footnote 467: _Pleasant Treatise_, pp. 5-7.]
[Footnote 468: Lea, iii, p. 501.]
[Footnote 469: Remigius, pt. i, pp. 89, 91.]
[Footnote 470: Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 137, 139, 163, 164.]
[Footnote 471: W. G. Stewart, p. 175.]
[Footnote 472: Danaeus, ch. ii.]
[Footnote 473: Cooper, p. 90.]
[Footnote 474: Rymer, i, p. 956.]
[Footnote 475: Chartier, iii, p. 45.]
[Footnote 476: From a trial in the Guernsey Greffe.]
[Footnote 477: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 123.]
[Footnote 478: Bodin, p. 187.]
[Footnote 479: Melville, p. 396; _see also_ Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp.
210-12, 239, 246.]
[Footnote 480: F. Hutchinson, p. 43.]
[Footnote 481: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, pp. 121, 125.]
[Footnote 482: Boguet, p. 411.]
[Footnote 483: Cannaert, p. 46.]