IV. THE ASSEMBLIES

THERE were two kinds of assemblies ; the one, known as the Sabbath, was the General Meeting of all the members of the religion ; the other, to which I give — on the authority of Estebene de Cambrue — the name of Esbat, was only for the special and limited number who carried out the rites and practices of the cult, and was not for the general public.
The derivation of the word Sabbath in this connexion is quite unknown. It has clearly nothing to do with the number seven, and equally clearly it is not connected with the Jewish ceremonial. It is possibly a derivative of s'esbattre, l to frolic ' ; a very suitable description of the joyous gaiety of the meetings.
i. Sabbath
Locomotion. — The method of going to the meetings varied according to the distance to be traversed. In an immense majority of cases the means of locomotion are not even mentioned, presumably therefore the witches went on foot, as would naturally be the case in going to the local meeting or Esbat, which was attended only by those who lived near. There are, however, a few instances where it was thought worth while to mention that the worshippers walked to the meeting. Boguet (1598), who yields to none in his accounts of magical means of going to the Sabbath, says, ' les Sorciers neatmoins vont quelquefois de pied au Sabbat, ce qui leur aduient principalement, lors que le lieu, ou ils font leur assemblee, n'est pas guieres eslongne de leur habitation ', and cites in confirmation the evidence of George and Antoinette Gandillon and their father Pierre, Clauda lanprost, Clauda lan-guillaume, laquema Paget, Gros laques, the two brothers Claude and Claude Charloz, Pierre Willermoz, 1'Aranthon, Pernette Molard, lanne Platet, and Clauda Paget.1 laquema Paget's account of how she and Antoine Tornier went to a
1 Boguet, pp. 106-7. 2m G
98 T H R A S S E M R L I K S
meeting on their way home from the harvest field (see p. i 21 \ proves that they were on foot. The Lang-Niddry witches (1608) clearly walked, they ' convenit thame selffis at Deane- fute of Lang-Niddry . . . thaireftir thay past altogidder to the said Beigis hous in Lang-Nydry [where they drank] ; and thaireftir come with all thair speid to Seaton-thorne be-north thezet; quhair the Devill callit for the said Christiana Tod, and past to Robert Smartis house, and brocht hir out. . . . And thay thaireftir past altogidder, with the Devill, to the irne zet of Seatoun . . . And thaireftir come all bak agane to the Deane-fute, quhair first thai convenit.'1 The distance from Lang Niddry to Seaton Castle is under a mile. Isaac de Queyran (1609), a young fellow of twenty-five, told de Lancre that those living at a distance flew home through the air, the near ones returned on foot.2 Berthelemy Minguet of Brecy was tried in 1616: ' Enquis, de quelle fa9on sa femme fut au Sabbat la premiere fois. Respond, qu'elle y fut transportee par le Diable lequel la rapporta apres le Sabbat, & que la seconde fois qu'elle y a este, elle y fut de son pied avec luy, & s'en retourna de son pied, & qu'elle n'y a iamais este que ces deux fois.' 3 Helen Guthrie of Forfar (1661) said that ' herselfe, Isobell Shyrie, and Klspet Alexander, did meit togither at ane aile house near to Barrie, a litle befor sunsett, efter they hade stayed in the said house about the spaice of ane houre drinking of thrie pintis of ale togidder, they went foorth to the sandis, and ther thrie other women met them, and the divell \ves there present with them all . . . and they parted so late that night that she could get no lodging, but wes forced to lye at ane dyk syde all night '.4 Christian Grieve, of Crook of Devon (1662), acknowledged 'that ye came to the foresaid meeting immediately after your goodman and the rest went to bed. and that ye locked the door and put the key under the s?me, and that ye and the said Margaret Young your neighbor came foot for foot to the foresaid meeting and that ye stayed at the foresaid meeting about the space of two hours and came back again on your foot, and the foresaid Margaret Young
1 Pitcaiin, ii, pp. 542-3. 2 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 148.
3 Id., i: Incredulit/, p. 808. J Kinloch, pp. 122-3.
THE ASSEMBLIES
99
with you, and found the key of the door in that same place where you left it, and declared that neither your husband nor any other in the house was waking at your return 7 At Lille (1661) the girl Bellot, then aged fifteen, said that 'her Mother had taken her with her when she was very Young, and had even carried her in her Arms to the Witches Sabbaths or Assemblies '.2 At Strathdown (eighteenth century) the witches went along the side of the river Avon to Craic-pol-nain, ford- ing the river on foot.3
In the cases cited above there is nothing in the least bizarre or extraordinary, but there are other methods recorded of reaching the distant meetings. Sometimes the obvious means was by riding on a horse ; sometimes the witches were accused, or claimed the power, of flying through the air, of riding in the air on a stick, of riding on animals or human beings, which latter were sometimes in their own natural form and sometimes enchanted into the form of animals.
The following instances are of those who rode to or from the meetings on horseback. Agnes Sampson of North Ber- wick (1590) said that 'the Devil in mans likeness met her going out in the fields from her own house at Keith, betwixt five and six at even, being her alone and commanded her to be at North-berwick Kirk the next night : And she passed there on horse-back, conveyed by her Good-son, called lohn Couper '.4 Boguet (1608) mentions, in passing, the fact that the witches sometimes rode on horses.5 The Lancashire witches (1613), after the meeting atMalking Tower, 'went out of the said House in their owne shapes and likenesses. And they all, by that they were forth of the dores, gotten on Horse- back, like vnto foals, some of one colour, some of another.' ° This was the usual mode of locomotion among the Lancashire witches, for Margaret Johnson (1633) said that at the meeting at Hoarstones ' there was, at y' tyme, between 30 and 40 witches, who did all ride to the said meetinge '.7 Isobell Gowdie (1662) said, ' I haid a little horse, and wold say, " Horse
1 Burns Begg, p. 239. 2 Bourignon, Vie, p. 211 ; Hale, p. 29.
3 Stewart, p. 174. " Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 239. Spelling modernized.
6 Boguet, p. 104. 6 Potts, G 4. 7 Whitaker, p. 216.
G 2
ioo THE ASSEMBLIES
and Hattock, in the Divellis name ! " ' ' The most detailed account is from Sweden (1669) :
' Another Boy confessed too, that one day he was carried away by his Mistriss, and to perform the Journey he took his own Father's Horse out of the Meadow where it was, and upon his return she let the Horse go in her own ground. The next morning the Boys Father sought for his Horse, and not finding it, gave it over for lost; hut the Boy told him the whole story, and so his Father fetcht the Horse back again.'2
We now come to the marvellous and magical means of locomotion. The belief in the power of witches to ride in the air is very ancient and universal in Europe. They flew either unsupported, being carried by the Devil, or were supported on a stick ; sometimes, however, an animal which they rode passed through the air. The flying was usually preceded by an anointing of the whole or part of the body with a magical ointment.
The earliest example of unsupported flying is from Paul Grilland (1537), who gives an account of an Italian witch in 1526, who flew in the air with the help of a magic ointment.3
Reginald Scot (1584) says that the ointment ' whereby they ride in the aire ' was made of the flesh of unbaptized children, and gives two recipes :
[i] ' The fat of yoong children, and seeth it with water in a brasen vessell, reseruing the thickest of that which remaineth boiled in the bottome, which they laie up and keepe, untill occasion serueth to use it. They put hereunto Eleoselinum, Aconitum, Frondes populeas, and Soote.' [2] ' Sium, acarum vulgare, pentaphyllon, the blood of a flitter mouse, solanum somniferum, and oleum. They stampe all these togither, and then they rubbe all parts of their bodys exceedinghe, till they looke red, and be verie hot, so as the pores may be opened, and their flesh soluble and loose. They ioine herewithall either fat, or oil in steed thereof, that the force of the ointment maie the rather pearse inwardly, and so be more effectuall. By this means in a moonlight night they seeme to be carried in the aire.1 4
1 Pitcairn, iii, p. 604. ! Horneck, pt. ii, p. 320.
3 Bodin, FUau, p. 178.
* Scot, pp. 41, 184. Scot is as usual] extraordinarily inaccurate in his statements. The correct formulae, as given by Wierus, will be found in Appendix V, with notes on the ingredients by Prof. A. J. Clark.
THE ASSEMBLIES 101
So far this is only hearsay evidence, but there is also a certain amount of first-hand testimony, the witches declaring that they actually passed through the air above ground, or had seen others do so.
In 1598 ' Thieuenne Paget racontoit, que le Diable s'apparut a elle la premiere fois en plein midy, en forme d'vn grand homme noir, & que comme ellc se fut baillee aluy, ill'embrassa & 1'esleva en 1'air, & la transporta en la maison du prel de Longchamois ... & puis la rapporta au lieu mesme, ou il 1'auoit prise. Antide Colas disoit, que le soir, que Satan s'apparut a elle en forme dVn homme de grande stature, ayant sa barbe & ses habillemens noirs, il la transporta au Sabbat, & qu'aux autres fois, il la venoit prendre dans son lict, & 1'emportoit comme si c'eust este vn vent froid, 1'empoignant par la teste.1 1
Isaac de Queyran (1609), whose evidence has already been quoted, said that the witches living at a distance flew home through the air.2 In France (1652) 'lors qu'elle vouloit aller aux danses, elle se oindoit d'ung onguen qui lui estoit donne par vn sorcier envoye par le diable. Que lors elle s'en alloit comme ung vent aux dictes danses avecque les aultres.' ' At Crook of Devon (1661) Bessie Henderson confessed 'that ye was taken out of your bed to that meeting in an flight '.4 The most detail comes from an English source: the Somerset witches (1664) claimed that they habitually flew through the air by means of a magical oil and magical words. Elizabeth Style said :
' Before they are carried to their meetings, they anoint their Foreheads, and Hand-wrists with an Oyl the Spirit brings them (which smells raw) and then they are carried in a very short time, using these words as they pass, Thout, tout a tout, tout, throughout and about. And when they go off from their Meetings, they say, Rentum, Torment2im . . . all^are carried to their several homes in a short space.' Alice Duke gave the same testimony, noting besides that the oil was greenish in colour. Anne Bishop, the Officer of the Somerset covens, confessed that ' her Forehead being first anointed with
1 Boguet, p. 96. 2 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 148.
3 H. G. van Elven, La Tradition, 1891, p. 215. Unfortunately neither name nor place are given in the transcription.
4 Burns Begg, p. 223.
THE ASSEMBLIES
a Feather dipt in Oyl, she hath been suddenly carried to the place of their meeting. . . . After all was ended, the Man in black vanished. The rest were on a sudden conveighed to their homes.' '
The belief that the witches actually rode in the air seated on some concrete object, such as an animal, a human being, or a stick, is both ancient and universal, and is reflected in the ecclesiastical and civil laws, of which the earliest is the decree of the ninth century, attributed to the Council of Ancyra. 'Certeine wicked women following sathans prouocations, being seduced by the illusion of diuels, beleeve and professe, that in the night times they ride abroad with Diana^ the goddesse of the Pagans, or else with Herodias, with an innumerable multitude, vpon certeine beasts . . . and doo whatsoeuer those fairies or ladies command.' * The laws of Lorraine (1329-46) decree that ' celui qui fera magie, sortilege, billets de sort, pronostic d'oiseau ou se vanteroit d'avoir chevauche la nuit avec Diane ou telle autre vielle qui se dit magicienne, sera banni et payera dix livres tournois \3
The witches themselves confirmed the statements about riding on animals to the Sabbath. Rolande du Vernier (i 598) confessed ' que lors qu'elle y fut, elle y alia sur vn gros mouton noir, qui la portoit si viste en 1'air, qu'elle ne se pouuoit recognoistre '.4 De Lancre says that the witches * se font porter iusqu'audit lieu, sur vne beste, qui semble parfois vn cheual, & parfoys vn homme '.5 Margaret Johnson (1633) ' saith, if they desyre to be in any place upon a sodaine, theire devill or spirit will, upon a rodde, dogge, or any thinge els, presently convey them thither V; One of Madame Bourignon's girls, then aged twelve ( 1 66 1), declared that 'her said Lover came upon a little Horse, and took her by the Hand, asking her if she would be his Mistress, and she saying Ay, she was catched up into the Air with him and the other Girls, and they
1 Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 139, 141, 148-9, 151.
2 Scot, Bk. iii, p. 66 ; Lea, iii, p. 493. I give Scot's translation as being more racily expressed.
3 J. Bournon, p. 19. 4 Boguet, p. 96.
6 L)e Lancre, Tablcnu, p. 113. * \Vhitaker, p. 216.
THE ASSEMBLIES 103
flew all together to a great Castle V The Swedish witches (1669) said :
1 He set us on a Beast which he had there ready, and carried us over 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 oflnstruments, 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.' 2
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 V! Ann Armstrong, of a Northumbrian Coven (1673) —
1 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. ua 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
1 Bourignon, Vie, p. 214 ; Hale, p. 31.
• Horneck, pt. ii, pp. 316, 317, 318, 319, 321. 3 Kinloch, p. 129.
104 THE ASSEMBLIES
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.1 '
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, how- ever, 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 \'2 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. 1 10, 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 1'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 '.3 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 ladte 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 dessq. roches et espynes " et q por luy il ne pouvoet
1 Surtees Society, xl, pp. 191-2, 194, 197 ; Denham Tracts, ii, pp. 299- 301, 304,307.
2 Holinshed, Ireland, p. 58. 3 Chartier, iii, p. 45; Lea, iii, p. 536.
THE ASSEMBLIES 105
ainsy fairc, et d' q sa mere a chevauche le genest p IV ou V foys et q il 1'a veue monter a mont la cheminee '.' Danaeus (1575) sums up the evidence of the witches themselves : ' He pro- miseth that himself will conuay them thither, that are so weak that they cannot trauaile of themselues : which many tymeshe doth by meanes of a staffe or rod, which he deliuereth vnto the, 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.' * 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 dc 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.' 5 He also records the actual evidence of indi- vidual witches: Fran£oise 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.4 — Claudine Boban, ieune fille confessa, qu'elle, & sa mere montoient sur vne ramasse,5 & que sortans le contremont de la cheminee ellesalloient par 1'air en ceste fa9on au Sabbat.'6 In Belgium Claire Goessen (1603) confessed 'qu'elle s'est ttouvee a diverses assemblies nocturnes tenues par lui, dans lesquelies elle s'est laissee transporter au moyen d'un baton enduit d'onguent '.7 Isobell Govvdie (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 void, be ewin as strawes wold flie wpon an hie-way. We will flie lyk strawes quhan we pleas ; wild-strawes and corne- strawes vvilbe horses to vvs, an ve put thaim betwixt our foot, and say , " Horse and Hattok, in the Divellis name! " . . . Quhan
1 From a trial in the Greffe, Guernsey. 2 Danaeus, ch. iv.
3 Boguet, p. 104. 4 Id., pp- 9. I04-
5 A marginal note against the word ramasse gives ' autrement balait, & en Lyonnois coiue '.
c Boguet, pp. 9, 97, 104. 7 Cannaert, p. 49.
io6 THE ASSEMBLIES
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 Bright- manney, and I, still [always] read on an horse, quhich ve void mak of a straw or beein-stalk.' l
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.'2 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 V! 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.' 4 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.'6
Site. — The Sabbath seems to have been originally held on a fixed site. So much so was this the case that de Lancre is
1 Pitcairn, iii, pp. 604, 608, 613. : Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 194.
a Howell, vi, 660 ; J. Hutchinson, Hist, of Massachusetts Biiy, p. 31.
4 Cotton Mather, p. 158; Burr, p. 244. See ]. Hutchinson. ii, pp. 35-6.
5 Hurr, p. 418.
THE ASSEMBLIES 107
able to say, ' communement ils 1'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, nommet 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.' l The confusion of the original Lane de JSouc, i.e. the Sabbath or Great Assembly, with local meetings is thus shown to be due to the inaccuracy of the witches them- selves ; 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.2 Bodin, however, gives a better clue, ' Les lieux des assemblees des Sorciers sont notables, & signalez de quelques arbres, ou croix.' 3 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 1'entour d'vne pierre, qui est plantee audit lieu, sur laquelle est assis vn grand homme noir.'4 At Poictiers in 1574 four witches, one woman and three men, said that they went ' trois fois 1'an, a 1'assemblee generale, ou plusieurs Sorciers se trouuoyet pres d'vne croix d'vn carrefour, qui seruoit d'enseigne '.5 At Aberdeen in 1596 the witches acknowledged that they danced round the market cross and the l fische croce ' on All-Hallow-eve ; and also round
1 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 65. 2 Id. ib., p. 72.
3 Bodin, Flea-it, p. 181. 4 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 123.
6 Bodin, p. 187.
io8 THE ASSEMBLIES
' ane gray stane ' at the foot of the hill at Craigleauch.1 Margaret Johnson (1633) said 'shee was not at the greate raeetinge at Hoarestones at the Forest of Pendle upon All Saints day '.2 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." 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 '.4
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 '.5
1 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 Wanneet Grand-Halleux pres de Stavelot ; D) les murs du diable a Pepinster, £c. — Dans plusieurs cantons, il y a un terrain que Ton appele tchan di' makral, " champ des sorciers ". C'est le cas pres de Remouchamps, pres de Tongres, pres de la Gileppe et pres de Grand-Halleux.' c
1 Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 97-8, 114, 149, 153, 165, 167.
1 Whitaker, p. 216 ; Baines, i, p. 607 note, where the name is given as Hartford. The importance of the stone in the Sabbath ceremonies is very marked in the account of a meeting in Northumberland (1673). Ann Armstrong declared that ' she and the rest had drawne their compasse nigh to a bridg end, and the devil placed a stone in the middle of the compasse, they sett themselves downe, and bending towards the stone, repeated the Lord's prayer backwards '. Denham Tracts, ii, p. 307 ; Surtees Soc, xl, p. 197.
3 Horneck, pt. ii, pp. 321, 324. * Mather, p. 131.
* Harou, La Tradition, vi (1892), p. 367. 6 Monseur, pp. 2, 8i>.
THE ASSEMBLIES 109
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 cele- brations 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 (Feb- ruary 2) ; and in the summer, the Gule of August (August i), 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 ' ; : and he also gives the words of a witch, tried in 1567 : ' Estebene de Cam- brue dit que les Sorcieres n'alloient en la grande assemblee & au grand Sabbat que quatre fois 1'annee.' * The four actual 1 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 64. z Id. ib., p. 123.
no THE ASSEMBLIES
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',1 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 k 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]. 4 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.'- The dittays against the witches of Aberdeen in 1596 show that l wpoun Hallowewin last bypast, att tuelflf houris at ewin or thairby, thow the" said Thomas Leyis . . . withe anc gryit number of vtheris witchis, come to the mercatt and fische croce of Aber- dene, 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.' 3 Christen Michell and Bessie Thorn had been not only at the Allhallow Eve meeting with Thomas Leyis but also at another before that. ' Thow confessis that, thrie yens sensyn, vpon the Ruidday, airlie in the morning,1 [Bessie Thorn : ' 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.' 4 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
1 Kinloch, p. 133. 2 Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 245. Spelling modernized.
3 Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 97-8.
4 lb., i, Christen Michell, p. 165 ; Bessie Thorn, p. 167.
THE ASSEMBLIES
i ii
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.' * In Ayrshire in 1604 Patrik Lowrieand his companion-witches were accused that they l att Hallowevin in the yeir of God foirsaid, assemblit thame selffis vpon Lowdon-hill, quhair thair appeirit to thame ane devillische Spreit \2 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 \3 Isobel Gowdie (Auldearne, 1662) does not enter into her usual detail, but merely states that ' a Grand Meitting void be about the end of ilk Quarter'.4
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/' Jane Bosdeau, from the Puy-de-D6me district (1594), bears this out, for she went to a meeting with the Devil ' at Midnight on the Eve of St. John '.° Antide Colas (1598) ' auoit este au Sabbat a vn chactin bon iour de Tan, comme a Noel, a Pasques, a la teste de Dieu '.7 Both generations of Lancashire witches (1613 and 1633) kept Good Friday.8 Jonet Watson of Dalkeith (i 66 1) was at a meeting 'about the tymeof the last Bailie- ffyre night'.11 The Crook of Devon witches (1662) met on St. Andrew's Day, at Yule.1" In Connecticut (1662) the ' high frolic' was to be held at Christmas.11
Ho^^r.—rl\\^ actual hour at which the Sabbath was held is specified in very few cases ; it appears to have been a
1 Ib., i, Issobell Richie, p. 142; Margrat Og, p. 144; Helene Rogie, p. 147; Jonet Lucas, p. 149; Jonet Dauidsone, p. 150; Issobell Oige, p. 152; Beatrice Robbie, p. 153.
2 Pitcairn, ii, p. 478. 3 Raines, i, p. 607 note. ' Pitcairn, iii, p. 606. 5 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 398.
0 F. Hutch inson, Historical Essay, p. 42. ' Boguet, p. 125.
* Chetham Society, vi, p. Ixxiii ; Whitaker, p. 216. " Pitcairn, iii, p. 601. 10 Burns Begg, pp. 219, 226, 237.
" J. Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts Bay, ii, p. 17; Taylor, p. 98.
ii2 THE ASSEMBLIES
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.' l
In the Vosgcs in 1408 the meeting was held len la minuit et la deuxieme heure '.2 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 '.3 At North Berwick, in 1590, Agnes Sampson arrived at the appointed place ' about eleven hours at even '. ' The Aberdeen witches in 1597 held their dance ' wpon Hallowewin last bypast, at tuelff houris at ewin or thairby ' {or more particu- larly) ' betuixt tuell & ane houris at nycht '.5 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 '. Amide Colas, another Lyonnaise, went to the meeting on Christmas Eve between the midnight mass and the mass at dawn.6
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 >J ay-Day festival ; or it may have been simply the continuation of the festival till the sun rose. Christen Mitchell and Bessie Thorn 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 '.''
2. The Esbat
Business.— The Esbat differed from the Sabbath by being primarily for business, whereas the Sabbath was purely re- ligious. In both, feasting and dancing brought the proceed- ings 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
1 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 1 54. 2 Bournon, p. 23.
3 Remigius, pt. i, p. 72. 4 Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 239.
8 Spnlding Club Misc., i, pp. 97, 1 14, 165, 167.
• Boguet, pp. 119, 125.
1 Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 165, 167.
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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 assemblies qui se font pres des villes ou parroisscs, 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 V 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 punch- ounis with tassis with them1.2 Jonet Barker (1643) sa^ tnat ' scho and ye said Margaret Lauder being w'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 wl thame all thre and that he Imbracet the said mar- garet lauder in his armes at ye drinking of ye beir and put his arme about hir waist '.3 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' • 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 V' In Forfar Helen Guthrie (1661) con- fessed that she went to several meetings ; at one in the 'churchyard 'they daunced togither, and the ground under them wea 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
1 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 123. ' Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 163.
s From the record in the Justiciary Court of Edinburgh. 4 Arnot, p. 358. 8 Id., p. 358-
H
ir4 THE ASSEMBLIES
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 V Elspet Bruce of the same Coven, ' by turning the sive and sheires, reased the divell, who being werry hard to be laid againe, ther vves a meiting of witches for laying of him . . . and at this meiting they had pipe-music and dauncing *.2 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.'3 Marie Lament (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 a/ Kempoch, wher they danced, and the devil kissed them when they went away.' 4 Annaple Thomson and the other witches of Borrowstowness (1679) —
4 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 a/id conversed with yow at the town-well at Borrowstownes, and several tymes in yowr awin howss, and drank severall choppens of ale with you.'6
1 Kinloch, pp. 120, 121. 2 Id., p. 122. 3 Pitcairn, iii, p. 613.
4 Sharpe, pp. 131, 134. B Scots Mag
THE ASSEMBLIES us
\.r
The magical ceremonies performed by the witches with the help of the Devil were usually for the destruction of, or for doing harm to, an enemy. Sometimes, however, the spells were originally for the promotion of fertility, but were misunder- stood by the recorders and probably by the witches them- selves. Alexia Violaea (1589) said that ' nachdem sie were mit ihren Gespielen umb und umb gelauffen eine ziemliche gut Weile, habe sie pflegen in die Hohe iiber sich zu werffen ein reines subfiles Pulverlein, welches ihr der Teufifel darzu gegeben habe, darvon Raupen, Kaffern, Heuschrecken, und dergleichen andere Beschadigung mehr, so Hauffenweise wiichsen, dass die Acker darmit in einem Augenblick uberall beschmeist wiirden '^ Isobel Gowdie's magical charm (1662) seems to come under this category :
' We went be-east Kinlosse, and ther we yoaked an plewghe of paddokis. The Devill held the plewgh, and Johne Yownge in Mebestowne, our Officer, did drywe the plewghe. Pad- dokis did draw the plewgh, as oxen ; qwickens wer sowmes, a riglen's home wes a cowter, and an piece of an riglen's home wes an sok. We went two seuerall tymes abowt ; and all we of the Coven went still wp and downe with the plewghe, prayeing to the Divell for the fruit of that land.1 2
The greater number of meetings were occupied with business of a magical character with the intention of harming certain specified persons ; though any other kind of business was also transacted. The North Berwick witches opened the graves which the Devil indicated in order to obtain the means of making charms with dead men's bones ; on another occa- sion they attempted to wreck a ship by magic.3 The Lang Niddry witches (1608) went to the house of BeigisTod, where they drank, and there christened a cat.4 The Lancashire witches (1613) met at Malking Tower for two purposes; the first was to give a name to the familiar of Alison Device, which could not be done as she was not present, being then in prison ; the second was to arrange a scheme or plot for the release of Mother Demdike, the principal witch of the com- munity, then a prisoner in Lancaster Castle ; the plot involved
1 Remigius, pt. i, p. 91. 2 Pitcairn, iii, p. 603 ; see below, p. 171.
3 Id., i, pt. ii, pp. 210-n, 217, 239. 4 Id., ii, pp. 542~3-
H 2
1 16 THE ASSEMBLIES
the killing- of the gaoler and governor, and the blowing up of the castle.1 In 1630 Alexander Hamilton was tried in Edinburgh,
' the said Alexr Hamiltoun haifing concaivet ane deidlie hai- trent agains umqle Elizabeth Lausone Lady Ormestoun younger becaus the said Alexr being at her zet asking for almous she choisit him therfra saying to him "away custroun carle ye will get nothing heir'". The said Alexr therupon in revenge therof accompaneit wt tua wemen mentionet in his depostiones come to Saltoun woid quhair he raisit the devill and quha appeirit to him and his associates in the likenes of ane man cled in gray and the said Alexr and his associates haifing schawin to him the caus of thair coming desyring him to schaw to thame be quhat meanes thay micht be revendget upon the said Lady.1 2
Margaret Johnson (1633) deposed that she was not at the great witch-meeting on All Saints' Day, but was at a smaller meeting the Sunday after, ' where there was, at yt tyme, between 30 and 40 witches, who did all ride to the said meet- inge, and the end of theire said meeting was to consult for the killinge and hurtinge of men and beasts.' 3 The Forfar witches (i66i)claimed to have wrecked a ship.4 Isobel Gowdie(i662) is as usual very dramatic in her account ; on one occasion the witches met to make a charm against the minister of Auldearne, Mr. Harie Forbes : ' Satan wes with ws and learned ws the wordis to say thryse ower. Quhan we haid learned all thes wordis from the Divell, we fell all down wpon owr kneis, with owr hear down ower owr sho widens and eyes, and owr handis lifted wp, and owr eyes stedfastlie fixed wpon the Divell ; and said the forsaidis wordis thryse ower to the Divell, striktb'e, against Maister Harie Forbes his recowering from the said seiknes.' When making an image only a few of the witches were present with the Devil.5 Marie Lamont ('662) claimed that her Coven raised storms on two occa- sions; and on a third, they in the likeness of ' kats', and the Devil as a man with cloven feet, made a charm with ' wyt
1 Potts, C 3, G 3, I 2, I 3.
2 From the trial of 'Alexr Hamiltoun, warlok ', in the Justiciaiy Court, Edinburgh. J Whitaker, p. 216.
4 Kinloch, p, 122. * Pitcairn, iii, pp. 609, 613.
THE ASSEMBLIES 117
sand ' against Blackball younger and Mr. John Hamilton.1 Amongst the most detailed accounts of the wax or clay images, and of the ritual for killing the person whom the image represented, are those of the Somerset witches 2 (1664). The baptism of the figure is an interesting point. The Paisley witches (1678) had a meeting to make a clay figure in order to kill an enemy of the witch in whose house the meeting was held.3 At Borrowstowness part of the accusation was that 4 ye and ilk ane of yow was at ane metting with the devill and other witches at the croce of Murestane, upon the threttein of October last, where you all danced and the devill acted the pyiper, and where yow indewored to have destroyed Andrew Mitchell '.4 In New England the witches accused George Burroughs ' that he brought Poppets to them, and Thorns to stick into those Poppets '.5
At the Esbats it is also evident that the Devil wished to maintain an appearance of miraculous power nqt only before the world at large, but in the eyes of the witches as well. This will account for the meetings on the sea-shore in raging storms when vessels were liable to be wrecked, and there are also many indications that the destruction of an enemy was effected by means more certain than the making and pricking of a wax or clay figure, means which were used after the figure had been made. Some of the methods of maintaining this prestige are of the simplest, others are noted without any explanation : ' Satan faict en ce lieu [le Sabbat] tant de choses estrages & nouuelles que leur simplicite & abus prend cela pour quelques miracles. 'c At Forfar (1661) the means of obtaining the result are apparent ; during a great storm the Devil ' and the witches destroyed the bridge of Cortaquhie, and the destruction was so arranged as to appear to have been effected by magical power ; but Helen Guthrie confessed that ' they went to the bridge of Cortaquhie with intentione to pull it doune, and that for this end shee her selfe, Jonnet Stout, and others of them, did thrust ther shoulderis againest the bridge, and that the divell wes bussie among them acting
1 Sharpe, pp. 132-4. 2 GlanviJ, pt. ii, pp. 137-8, 164.
3 Id., pt. ii, p. 294. 4 Scots Magazine, 1814, P- 201.
6 Mather, p. 125. 6 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 135.
n8 THE ASSEMBLIES
his pairt '. Issobell Smyth, who also assisted on the occasion, said, ' Wee all revved that meitting, for wee hurt our selves lifting.'1 Still more simple was the method of destroying the harvest of a field at Crook of Devon, where Bessie Hen- derson ' confessed and declared that Janet Paton was with you at ane meeting when they trampit down Thos. White's rie in the beginning of harvest, 1661, and that she had broad scales and trampit down more nor any of the rest'.2 The Devil of Mohra in Sweden cared only to impress his fol- lowers ; when the wall which they were building fell down k some of the Witches are commonly hurt, which makes him laugh, but presently he cures them again V;
Site.— In some places the Esbat was held at a fixed site, in others the site varied from week to week. In both cases, the locality was always in the near neighbourhood of the village whose inhabitants attended the meeting.
4 Pour le lieu ordinaire c'est es carrefours, come disoit Isaac de Queyran, qui deposoit y auoir este au carrefour du Palays Galienne, pres la ville de Bourdeaux ; ou aux places des paroisses au deuant des Eglises, & le plus souuent au droict de la grand' porte, si 1'Eglise est plantee au milieu de la place comme elle est souuent, afin que le Diable plante sa chaire tout vis a vis du grand autel ou on met le Sainct sacrement : comme il est en la place d'Ascain, ou tous les tesmoins du lieu, nous ont diet que le Sabbat se faisoit. II a aussi accous- tume les tenir en quelque lieu desert, & sauuage, comme au milieu d'vne lande ; & encore en lieu du tout hors de passage, de voisinage, dliabitation, & de rencontre : Et communement ils s'appellent Aquelarre 4 qui signifie Lane de Bouc, comme qui diroit la lane ou lade, ou le Bouc conuoque ses assem- blees.' 5
Danaeus emphasizes the variation of both site and date : 4 They meete togither in certen apointed places, not al of them togither, nor at once, but certen of them whom he pleaseth to call, so that he apointeth where they shall meete, and at what houre of the day, or of the nighte.'n The Windsor
1 Kinloch, pp. 122, 133.
2 Burns Begg, p. 224. s Horneck, pt. ii, p. 323. ' The full name is Aquelarre de verros, prado del Cabron.
* De Lancre, Tableau, pp. 64-5. * Danaeus, ch. iv.
THE ASSEMBLIES 119
witches, however, ' did accustome to meete within the backe- side of Maister Dodges in the Pittes there V Boguet's evi- dence also points to there being a settled site for the Esbat in each village :
4 Les Sorciers du coste de Longchamois s'assembloient en vn pre, qui est sur le grand chemin tirant a S. Claude, ou Ton voit les ruines d'vne maison. Ceux du coste de Coirieres tenoient leur Sabbat, sous le village de Coirieres proche 1'eau, en vn lieu appelle es Combes, qui est du tout sans chemin. [Autres] se retrouuoient en vn lieu diet es Fontenelles, sous le village de Nezan, qui est vn lieu assez descouuert . . . le Sabbat des Sorciers de la Mouille se tenoit en la Cour du Priore du mesme lieu.' *
Jane Bosdeau (1594) went twice a week regularly to 'a Rendezvous of above Sixty Witches at Puy de dome V And the Swedish witches went so uniformly to one place that there was a special building for their rites :
1 They unanimously confessed that Blockula is scituated in a delicate large Meadow whereof you can see no end. The place or house they met at, had before it a Gate painted with divers colours ; through this Gate they went into a little Meadow distinct from the other ... 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 where there were very lovely and delicate Beds.' 4
On the whole the weight of evidence in England and Scot- land is in favour of Danaeus's statement that there was no fixed site, though this should be taken as referring to the local meetings only, not to the Great Assemblies. The Forfar witch-trials give much information : Helen Guthrie
4 wes at a meitting in the church yeard of Forfar in the Holfe therof . . . Betwixt the oatseid and the bearseid [barleysowingj, she wes at ane other meitting at the Pavilior.e hollis . . . This same year, betwixt the oatseid and bearseid^she was at a thrid meiting in the church yeard of Forfar in the holfe thereof, about the same tyme of the night as at the [former] meitings, viz. at midnight.— About the beginning of the last oat seid
Rehear sail, p. 7. * Boguet, pp. 126-7.
F. Hutchinson, Historical Essay, p. 43. " Horneck, pt. ii, p. 321.
120 THE ASSEMBLIES
tyme, Isabcll Syrie did cary hir [Jonet Hovvat] to the Insch within the loch of Forfar, shoe saw at this tyme, about threteen witches with the divill, and they daunced togither . . . About four wiekes after the forsaid meiting in the Insch, the said Isabell Syrie caried hir to ane other meiting at Muryknowes. — About three and a halfe yeares since, she [Elspet Alexander] was at a meiting with the divill at Peterden, midway betwixt Forfar and Dondie . . . About four wiekes after this mieting at Petterden, shoe was at ane second mieting at the Muryknowes . . . shoe was present at ane thrid mieting near Kerymure.' l
Isobel Gowdie's evidence is detailed as usual : ' The last tyme that ovvr Coven met, we, and an vther Coven, wer dauncing at the Hill of Earlseat ; and befor that, betwixt Moynes and Bowgholl ; and befor that we ves beyond the Meikleburne ; and the vther Coven being at the Downie-hillis we went from beyond the Meikle-burne, and went besyd them, to the howssis at the Wood-end of Inshoch . . . Befor Candlemas, we went be-east Kinlosse.'- The same facts were elicited from the Kinross-shire witches ; Robert Wilson l confessed ye had ane meeting with the Devill at the Stanriegate, bewest the Cruick of Devon . . . the Devil appointed them to meet at the Bents of Balruddrie '. — Margaret Huggon confessed ' that ye was at another meeting with Sathan at the Stanriegate, bewest the Cruik of Devon . . . lykeways ye confessed ye was at another meeting with Satan at the Heathrie Knowe be -east the Cruik of Devon, where the Gallows stands ... a meeting at the back of Knocktinnie at the Gaitside . . . and another at the bents of Newbiggin '. — Janet Brugh ' confessed that ye was at ane meeting at Stanriegate ... ye confessed that about Yule last bypast ye was at ane meeting with Sathan at Turfhills . . . lykeways ye confessed that ye was at the Bents of Balruddrie and Gibson's Craig, where Sathan was present at them both '. — Christian Grieve ' freely confessed that ye was at ane meeting with Sathan at the back of Andrew Dowie his house '.3 The Somerset witches ^1664) varied in this respect. Those of Win- canton met in different places : Elizabeth Style ' hath been at several general meetings in the night at High Common, and a Common near Motcombe, at a place near Marnhull, and at
1 Kinloch, pp. 120 seq. a Pitcairn, iii, p. 603.
s Burns Begg, pp. 226 seq.
THE ASSEMBLIES 121
other places'.— Alice Duke l hath been at several meetings in Lie Common, and other places in the night '. But the Brew- ham Coven appear to have met commonly at Hussey's Knap in Brewham Forest.1
Occasionally a reason is given for the change of site. ' Par- fois vn Sabbat finy a vn coin de paroisse, on s'en va le tenir a vne autre, ou le Diable mene les mesmes personnes : mais la, on y en rencontre d'autres.2 Sometimes also a sidelight is thrown upon these gatherings, which explains the fact that in many cases the witches said that they did not know all the people present at a given meeting :
4 Antoine Tornier, Et laquema Paget ont confesse, que comme elles retournoient a certain iour par ensemble de glanner, passans au long du pre de Longchamois, elles apper- ceurent que Ton y tenoit le Sabbat ; Surquoy elles poserent bas leurs fardeaux, & allerent au lieu predict, ou elles firent comme les autres, & puis se retirerent chacune en leurs maisons, apres auoir reprins leurs fardeaux.' 3
The Salem Witches (1692) met ' upon a plain grassy place, by which was a Cart path and sandy ground in the path, in which were the tracks of Horses feet '.4
Date and Hozir.—Thzr& was no fixed day or hour for the Esbat, and in this it differed from the Sabbath, which was always at night. The Devil let his followers know the time, either by going to them himself or by sending a message by the officer. The message might be by word of mouth, or by some signal understood by the initiated.
Though there was no fixed day for the Esbat, it seems probable that one day in the week was observed in each locality.
Danaeus, in his general survey of the cult in 1575, says: 4 He apointeth where they shall meete, and at what houre of the day, or of the night : wherein they haue no surenes, nor certentie. For these meetinges are not weekely, nor monthly, nor yeerely, but when and how often it shall seeme good to this their maister. And many times himself warneth them to
1 Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 140, 148, 156, 161.
2 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 64. s Boguet, p. 102. 4 Burr, p. 418.
122 THE ASSEMBLIES
meete, sometimes hee apoynteth others to warne them in his staede. But when he doth it himself, he appeareth vnto them in likenesse of a man.' l De Lancre says that in the Basses- Pyrenees 4 le lieu ou on le trouue ordinairement s'appelle Lanne de bouc, & en Basque Aquelarre de verros^prado del Cabron, & la les Sorciers le vont adorer trois nuicts durant, celle du Lundy, du Mercredy, & du Vendredy. — Les iours ordinaires de la conuocation du Sabbat, ou pour mieux dire les nuicts, sont celles du Mercredy venant au leudy, & du Yendredy venant au Samedy. — Catherine de Naguille de la paroisse d'Vstarits, aagee de onze ans, & sa compagne, nous ont asseure qu'elles auoiet este au Sabbat en plein midy.' 2 Jane Bosdeau ( 1 594) ' every Wednesday and Friday met a Rendezvous of aboue Sixty Witches at Puy de dome V! Boguet says that the day of the Sabbath was variable, usually Thursday night ;4 while, according to Bodin, the most frequent was ' entre la nuict du Lundi & Mardi '.' Boguet also goes on to say, 4 Le Sabbat ne se tient pas tousiours de nuict, ains que les Sorciers y vont aussi quelquefois de iour, selon que firent Antoine Tornier, & laquema Paget, & plu- sieurs autres de leur secte le confessent.' 6 The Lorraine witches also had the same custom :
1 Alle zugleich, so viel ihrer bisher in Lotharingen peinlich sind verhoret worden, bekandten, dass solche Versammlung in keiner andern Nacht, als welche zu nechst vor dem Donners- tag oder Sambstag hergehet, gehalten werden. — Johannes a Villa und Agathina des Schneiders Francisci weib, sagt, eine oder zwey Stunde vor Mitternacht, were die bequemste Zeit darzu, und zvvar nicht allein zu diesen Gespensten, sondern auch sonsten zu allerhand Gespensten, Bollergeisten, Irrgeisten, &c. Aber die Stunde nach Mitternacht diene nicht darzu.' 7
The English and Scotch evidence is to the same effect. The witches ' are likewise reported to have each of them a Spirit or Imp attending on, or assigned to them. . . . These give the Witches notice to be ready on all Solemn appointments, and meetings, which are ordinarily on Tuesday or Wednesday night '.8 Janet Breadheid of the Auldearne Coven emphasizes
1 Danaeus, ch. iv. l De Lancre, Tableau^ pp. 62, 398.
3 F. Hutchinson, p. 43. 4 Boguet, p. 124. * Bodin, FMiu, p. 182.
G boguet, p. 123. 7 Remigius, pp. 71, 72. * Pleasant Treatise, p. 4.
THE ASSEMBLIES 123
the irregularity of the dates : ' Efter that, we void still meit euerie ten, twelve, or twantie dayes continvvally.' ' Marie Lament merely notes that the meetings were at night : ' The devil came to Kattrein Scott's house in the midst of the night. . . . When she had been at a mietting sine Zovvle last, with other witches, in the night, the devill convoyed her home in the dawing.' 2 The Somerset witches had no special night : ' At every meeting before the Spirit vanisheth away, he appoints the next meeting place and time,' 3 and Mary Green went to a meeting ' on Thursday Night before Whitsunday last \4 At Paisley the meeting was on Thursday, the 4th of January, 1678, in the night, in John Stuart's house.5 The Swedish witches were much harder worked : ' whereas formerly one journey a week would serve his turn, from their own Town to the place aforesaid, now they were forced to run to other Towns and places for Children, and that some, of them did bring with them some fifteen, some sixteen Children every night.' (i
The more modern examples suggest that the date became more fixed : ' On croit que c'est toujours un vendredi soir que les sorciers et sorcieres se reunissent.' 1 ' Sorciers et sorcieres vont au sabbat le vendredi, a travers les airs.1 a
1 ljitcairn, iii, p. 617. 2 Sharpe, pp. 131, 133.
3 Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 139. ' id., pt. ii, p. 164.
5 Id., pt. ii, pp. 293, 297. 6 Horneck, pt. ii, p. 318.
7 Monseur, p. 87. * Lemoine, La Tradition, 1892, vi, p. 106.
V . THE RITES
i. General
THE exact order of the ceremonies is never given and probably varied in different localities, but the general rule of the ritual at the Sabbath seems to have-been that proceedings began by the worshippers paying homage to the Devil, who sat or stood in a convenient place. The homage consisted in renewing the vows of fidelity and obedience, in kissing the Devil on any part of his person that he chose to indicate, and sometimes in turning a certain number of times widdershins. [Then followed the reports of all magic worked since the previous Sabbath, either by individuals or at the Esbats, and at the same time the witches consulted the Master as to their cases and received instructions from him how to proceed ; after which came admissions to the society or marriages of the members. 1 This ended the business part of the meeting. Immediately after all the business was transacted, the religious service was celebrated, the ceremonial of which varied accord- ing to the season of the year ; and it was followed by the 1 obscene ' fertility rites. The whole ceremony ended with feasting and dancing, and the assembly broke up at dawn.
This was apparently the usual course of the ritual of the Sabbath ; the Esbat had less ceremonial, and the religious service was not performed. The Devil himself often went round and collected the congregation ; and, not being in his ' grand arroy ', he appeared as a man in ordinary dress. Instead of the religious service with the adoration of the god, the witches worked the spells and charms with which they be- witched or unbewitched their enemies and friends, or they exercised new methods which they learnt from their Master, or received instructions how to practise the arts of healing and secret poisoning, of causing and blasting fertility.
There are a few general accounts of the usual course of the Sabbath ritual. Danaeus (1575) does not distinguish clearly
THE RITES 125
between the two classes of meetings, but at the same time he seems to have realized that a certain order was followed :
' Satan calleth them togither into a Diuelish Sinagoge, and that he may also vnderstand of them howe well and diligently they haue fulfilled their office of intoxicating committed vnto them, and who they haue slaine : wherefore they meete togither in certen apointed places. . . . Whc they meete together he appeareth visibly vnto them in sundrie fourmes, as the head and chiefe of that congregation. . . . Then doe they all repeate the othe which they haue geuen vnto him, in acknowledging him to be their God, the fal they to dauncing . . . Whiche beeing all finished, then he demaundeth agayne of them what they woulde require of him. . . . Vnto some he geueth poysons ready made, and others he teacheth howe to make and mingle new. . . . Finally, if in any thing they neede his presence and helpe, by couenant he promiseth to be present with them.' l
Boguet (1589) is more exact, as he obtained his knowledge at first hand :
' Les Sorciers estans assemblez en leur Synagogue adorent premierement Satan . . . ils luy offrent des chandelles, & le baisent aux parties honteuses de derriere. Quelquefois encor il tient vne image noire, qu'il faut baiser aux Sorciers. . . . Les Sorciers en second lieu dansent. . . . Les danses finies, les Sorciers viennent a s'accoupler. . . . Les Sorciers, apres s'estre veautrez parmy les plaisirs immondes de la chair, banquettent & se festoient. . . . Les Sorciers rendent conte a Satan de ce qu'ils ont fait des la derniere assemblee. ... II fait renoncerde nouueau a ces miserables, Dieu, Chresme, & Baptesme. II leur fait rafraischir le serment solennel qu'ils ont fait.' 2
The English account is put together from foreign sources to a great extent :
1 They are carryed out of the house, either by the Window, Door, or Chimney, mounted on their Imps. . . . Thus brought to the designed place, they find a great number of others arrived there by the same means : who, before Lucifer takes his place in his throne as King, do make their accustomed homage, Adoring, and Proclaiming him their Lord, and rendring him all Honour. This Solemnity being finished, they sit to Table where no delicate meats are wanting. ... At the sound of many pleasant Instruments the table is taken away, and the pleasant consort invites them to a Ball. ... At
1 Danaeus, ch. iv. " Boguet, pp. 131-9-
126 THE RITES
the last, the lights are put out. The Incubus's in the shapes of proper men satisfy the desires of the Witches, and the Succu- bus's serve for whores to the Wizards. At last before Aurora brings back the day, each one mounts on his spirit, and so returns to his respective dwelling place. . . . Sometimes at their solemn assemblies, the Devil commands, that each tell what wickedness he hath committed. . . . When the assembly is ready to break up, and the Devil to dispatch them, he publisheth this law with a loud voice, Revenge your selves or else you shall dye, then each one kissing the Posteriors of the Devil returns upon their aiery Vehicles to their habitations.' T
2. Homage
In some places the witches saluted their Chief by falling on their knees, and also by certain manual gestures ; in other places by curtsies and obeisances. In Scotland, France, and Belgium, another rite was also in vogue, that of kissing the Devil on any part of his person that he might direct. At Como and Brescia the witches, ' when they paid reverence to the presiding demon, bent themselves backwards, lifting a foot in the air forwards.' 2
Remigius, writing of the Lorraine witches in 1589, says :
4 Es erzehlte die Beatrix Bayona dass einer unter ihnen alien der Oberster wer, welcher in einer Zell auffeinem hohen Stubl sasse, sehr ernsthafftig und prachtig heraus, zu demselbigen trete je einer nach dem andern, mil Furcht und Zittern, falle ihm zum Zeichen seiner Ehrerbietung fur die Fiisse, und umbfange ihn mit aller Demuth und Reverentz. — Erstlich fallen sie nieder auff ihre Knie ; darnach legen sie die Hande ausswendig zusam- men, als diejenigen pflegen zu thun, welche obtestiren, jedoch auff dem Riicken und verkehrter Weise, sie habenden Riicken zu ihm gewandt, bleiben so lang kniend, biss er selbsten zu ihnen sagt, dass es genugsam sey.' 3
In Somerset (1664) the witches always mention the saluta- tion:
1 At their first meeting the Man in black bids them welcome, and they all make low obeysance to him. — [Elizabeth Style, Alice Duke, Anne Bishop, Mary Penny] met about nine of the Clock in the Night, in the Common near Trister Gate,
1 Pleasant Treatise, pp. 5-7. « Lea, iii, p. 501.
3 Remigius, pt. i, pp. 89, 91.
T H E R I T E S 127
where they met a Man in black Clothes with a little Band, to whom they did Courtesie and due observance. — Mary Green [went with others to] Hussey's Knap in the Forrest in the Night time, where met them the Fiend in the shape of a little Man in black Clothes with a little band, to him all made obey- sances. . . . On Thursday Night before Whitsunday last [she met several others] and being met they called out Robin. Upon which instantly appeared a little Man in black Clothes to whom all made obeysance, and the little Man put his hand to his Hat, saying, How do ye ? speaking loiu but big. Then all made low obeysances to him again.' *
As late as the eighteenth century there is a similar account.2 Danaeus (1575) and Cooper (1617) are the only writers who mention the kiss in their general accounts of the ceremonies. The former says : ' Then biddeth he the that they fall down & worship him, after what maner and gesture of body he pleaseth, and best liketh of. Thus some of them falle downe at his knees, some offre vnto him black burning cadles, other kisse him in some part of his body where he appeareth visibly.' 3 Cooper mentions it as part of the admission cere- mony : ' Secondly, when this acknowledgement is made, in testimoniall of this subjection, Satan offers his back-parts to be kissed of his vassall.'4
The ceremony is one of the earliest of which there is any record. In 1303 a Bishop of Coventry was accused at Rome of a number of crimes, amongst others ' quod diabolo homa- gium fecerat, et eum fuerit osculatus in tergo '.5 Guillaume Edeline was tried in j 453 ; he was ' docteur en theologie, prieur de S. Germain en Laye, et auparavant Augustin, et religieux de certaines aultres ordres. Confessa ledit sire Guillaume, de sa bonne et franche voulente, avoir fait hommage audit ennemy en 1'espece et semblance d'ung mouton, en le baisant par le fondement en signe de reverence et d'hommage.' ° Martin Tulouff, tried in Guernsey in 1563, went to a meeting, ' ou ly avoet chinq ou vi chatz, d'ou il y en avoet ung qui estoit noiri qui menoit la dance, et d ladite Collennette le besa p de derriere, et luy p la crysse.
1 Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 137, 139, 163, 164.
2 W. G. Stewart, p. 175. 3 Danaeus, ch. ii. * Cooper, p. 90. 6 Rymer, i, p. 956. c Chartier, iii, p. 45-
128 THE RITES
Et luy dist ladite vieillesse q ledit chat estoit le diable.1 1 Estebene de Cambrue, in 1567, described the ceremonies at the Sabbath : ' Us se mettent a dancer a 1'entour d'une pierre, sur laquelle est assis vn grand homme noir, qu'elles appellent Mosieur, & chacun de 1'assemblee luy va baiser le derriere.' - The witches of Poictiers in 1574 ' dansoyent a 1'entour du bouc : puis vn chacun luy baisoit le derriere V The same ceremony took place at North Berwick in 1590: 'Now efter that the deuell had endit his admonitions, he cam down out of the pulpit, and caused all the company to com and kiss his ers, quhilk they said was cauld lyk yce.' 4 Jane Bosdeau confessed that at meeting's at Puy-de-D6me in 1594 'all the Witches had Candles which they lighted at his, and danced in a Circle Back to Back. They kiss'd his Backside, and pray'd that he would help them.'"' Andro Man of Aberdeen in 1597 con- fessed ' that all thay quha convenis with thame kissis Christ - sonday and the Quene of Elphenis airss '.G Rolande de Vernois in 1598 'confessa que le Diable se presenta pour lors au Sabbat en forme d'vn gros chat noir. Que tous ceux, qui estoient au Sabbat, alloient baiser ce gros chat noir au derriere.'7 Cornelie van Beverwyck, aged 75, at Ghent in 1598, was accused that ' vous n'avez pas craint de vous age- nouiller devant lui, de lui rendre hommage et de baiser son derriere en signe de soumission '.8 Claire Goessen in 1603 went to 'rassemblee nocturne de Lembeke, ou, apres ladanse, elle a, comme tous les assistans, baise un bouc a 1'endroit de sa queue'.9 Jeannette d'Abadie in 1609 in the Basses-Pyrenees said, regarding the renunciation which she made on admission, 1 il luy faisoit renouueller toutes les fois qu'elle alloit au sabbat, puis elle 1'alloit baiser au derriere. ' 10 At the celebrated trial of Louis Gaufredy at Aix in 1610, Magdalene de Demandouls gave a detailed account of the homage rendered by the witches :
' From a trial in the Guernsey GrerTc.
• De Lancre, TaMttiH, p. 123. s Bodin, p. 187.
4 Melville, p. 396; see tilso Pitcairn, i, pt. ij, pp. 210-12, 239, 246.
'' F. Hutchinson, p. 43. a Sfmtding Club Misc., i, pp. 121, 125.
7 Boguet, p. 411. 8 Cannaert, p. 46. ' Id., p. 50.
'" De Lancre, Tableau, p. 131,
TH E R IT ES I29
1 First the hagges and witches, who are people of a sordid and base condition, are the first that come to adore the Prince of the Synagogue, who is Lucifers lieftenant, and he that now holdeth that place is Lewes Gaufridy : then they adore the Princesse of the Synagogue who is a woman placed at his right hand. Next they goe and worship the Diuell who is seated in a Throne like a Prince. In the second place come the Sorcerers and Sorceresses, who are people of a middle con- dition, and these performe the same kind of adoration with the former, kneeling vpon the ground, but not prostrating them- selves as doe the other; although they kisse the hands and feet of the Diuell as the first likewise doe. In the third place come the Magicians who are Gentlemen and people of a higher ranke.'1
Isobel Gowdie of Auldearne in 1662 said, ' Somtym he void be lyk a stirk, a bull, a deir, a rae, or a dowg, and he void hold wp his taill vvntill we wold kiss hisarce.'2 The explana- tion of this rite is given in the French authorities :
4 Le Diable estoit en forme de bouc, ayant vne queue, & au dessoubs vn visage d'homme noir, ou elle fut contrainte le baiser. — [Elle] depose, Que la premiere fois qu'elle luy fut presentee elle le baisa a ce visage de derriere au dessoubs d'vne grande queue : qu'elle 1'y a baise par trois fois, & qu'il auoit aussi ce visage faict comme le museau d'vn bouc. — II a vne grande queue au derriere, & vne forme de visage au dessoubs : duquel visage il ne profere aucune parole, ains luy sert pour le donner a baiser a ceux qui bon luy semble. — Es festes solemnelles on baisoit le Diable au derriere, mais les notables sorcieres le baisoient au visage.'3 The two faces are thus dis- tinctly vouched for, and the use of them seems to have been to distinguish the position of the witch in the society. The mask or disguise 'is clearly indicated in the evidence of Isaac de Queyron, who with others ' le baiserent a vne fesse qui estoit blanche & rouge, & auoit la forme dVne grande cuisse d'vn homme, & estoit velue '.*
The Devil was also kissed on other parts of his person. Marion Grant of the Aberdeen witches (1597) confessed that he ' causit the kis him in dyvers pairtis, and worship him on thy kneis as thy lord '.5 Some of the Lyons witches ' le baiserent aux parties honteuses de derriere : les autres le
1 Michaelis, Historic, pp. 334-5. 2 Pitcairn, iii, p. 613.
3 DeLancre, Tableau, pp. 68, 126, 128. 4 Id. ib.,p. 148.
6 Spalding Club Misc., i, p. 171.
2
1 3o THE RITES
baisent sur 1'espaule.1 ' Jeannette d'Abadie in the Basses- Pyrenees (1609) confessed lque le Diable luy faisoit baiser son visage, puis le nombril, puis le membre viril, puis son derriere \2 In connexion with this last statement, it is worth comparing Doughty 's account of an Arab custom : ' There is a strange custom, (not only of nomad women, but in the Arabic countries even among Christians, which may seem to remain of the old idolatry among them,) of mothers, their gossips, and even young maidens, visiting married women to kiss with a kind of devotion the hamtnam of the male children. ' :t
3. The Dances
Dances as an important part of fertility rites are too well known to need description. The witches' dances, taken in conjunction with the dates of the four great Sabbaths of the year, point to the fact that they also were intended to promote fertility. There were several forms of ritual dances, varying apparently according to the form of fertility required, whether of crops, animals, or human beings. The jumping dance seems to have had for its object the growth of the crops ; the higher the performers jumped the higher the crops would grow. The so-called ' obscene ' or ' indecent ' dance was for the promotion of fertility among animals and women. When the dancers were disguised as animals, the dance was for the increase of the animals represented ; when undisguised, for the fertility of human beings.
Although the dances took place at English witch meetings, they are merely mentioned and not described. The Scotch trials give rather fuller accounts, but the chief details are from France.
The two principal forms of the dance were the ring-dance and the follow-my-leader dance, but there was also a very complicated form which was not understood by the Inquisitors, who therefore dismiss it with the words ' tout est en confusion '. It still survives, however, in the Basses-Pyrenees, in some of the very villages which were inhabited by witches in the
1 Boguet, p. 131. 2 De Lancre, Tableau, pp. 72, 131.
3 Doughty, Travels in Arabia Desert a, i, 89.
THE RITES
sixteenth century — those witches whose proceedings de Lancre describes so vividly.1
The ring dances were usually round some object ; some- times a stone, sometimes the Devil stood or was enthroned in the middle. Thomas Leyis, with a great number of other witches, 'came to the Market and Fish Cross of Aberdeen, under the conduct and guiding of the Devil present with you, all in company, playing before you on his kind of instruments : Ye all danced about both the said crosses, and the meal market, a long space of time ; in the which Devil's dance, thou the said Thomas was foremost and led the ring, and dang the said Kathren Mitchell, because she spoiled your dance, and ran not so fast about as the rest. Testified by the said Kathrein Mitchell, who was present with thee at the time forsaid dancing with the Devil.' a Margaret Og was indicted for going to Craigleauch 'on Hallow even last, and there, accompanied by thy own two daughters, and certain others, your devilish adherents and companions, ye danced all together, about a great stone, under the conduct of Satan, your master, a long space '.3 Jonet Lucas was accused of ' danceing in ane ring ' on the same occasion.4 Beatrice Robbie was l indited as a notorious witch, in coming, under the conduct of the Devil thy master, with certain others, thy devilish adherents, to Craigleauche, and there dancing altogether about a great stone, a long space, and the Devil your master playing before you'/' In the Basses- Pyrenees, 'Us se mettent a dancer a 1'entour d'une pierre, qui est plantee audit lieu, sur laquelle est assis un grand homme noir.' c Jane Bosdeau, who ' confessed freely and without Torture and continued constant in it in the midst of the Flames in which she was burnt ', said that she had been to a witch-meeting, ' and danced in a circle back to back '.7
' Les Sorciers dansent, & font leurs danses en rond, doz contre doz. Les boiteux y vont plus dispostement que les
1 Moret, Mysteres Egyptiens, pp. 247 seq.
2 Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 97-8- Spelling modernized.
3 Ib., i, p 144. Spelling modernized. 4 Ib., p. 149-
5 Ib., p. 153. Spelling modernized. 6 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 123.
7 F. Hutchinson, Historical Essay, p. 43-
I 2
132 T H K RITES
autres [et] incitoient les autres a sauter & danser.1 . . . Quelque- fois, mais rarement, ils dansent deux a deux, & par fois 1'vn ca & 1'autre la, Si tousiours en confusion: estans telles danses semblables a celles des Fees, vrais Diables incorporez, qui regnoient il n'y a pas log temps.' 2 l On y dance tousiours le dos tourne au centre de la dance, qui faict que les filles sont si accoutumees a porter les mains en arriere en cette dace ronde, qu'elles y trainent tout le corps, & luy donnent vn ply courbe en arriere, ayant les bras a demy tournez : si bien que la plupart ont le ventre communement grand, enfle & avance, & vn peu penchant sur le deuant. On y dance fort peu souuent vn a vn, c'est a dire vn homme seul auec vne femme ou fille. . . . On n'y dancoit que trois sortes de bransles, communement se tournant les espaules IVn a 1'autre, & le dos d'vn chascun visant dans le rond de la dance, & le visage en dehors. La premiere c'est a la Bohemienne ... La seconde c'est a sauts ; ces deux sont en rond.' 3 ' Ils apperceurent a 1'entree [d'vn bois], vn rond, ou cerne, dans lequel il y auoit plusieurs vestiges de pieds d'horhes, d'cfans, & d'Ours, ou bien d'autres bestes semblables,4 lesquels estoient seulement enfoncez d'vn demy doigt dans la neige, quoy que pour eux ils y entrassent iusques a la ceinture.'5
The Swedish witches danced in the same manner. ' We used to go to a gravel pit which lay hard by a cross-way, and there we put on a garment over our heads, and then danced round.' r> The round dance was so essentially a witch dance that More says, ' It might be here very seasonable to enquire into the nature of those large dark Rings in the grass, which they call Fairy Circles, whether they be the Rendezvous of Witches, or the dancing places of those little Puppet Spirits which they call Elves or Fairies.' 7
It will be seen from the above quotations that there were many varieties in the ring dance ; this was the case also in the follow-my-leader dance. There seems to have been also a combination of the two dances ; or perhaps it would be more correct to say that sometimes the ring and follow my-leader figures were used together so as to form one complete dance,
1 Compare the account of the Forfar witch-dance. Kinloch, p. 120.
2 Boguet, pp. 131-2. 3 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 210.
4 Compare the dittay against Bessie Thorn, who danced round the Fish Cross of Aberdeen with other witches ' in the lyknes of kattis and haris '. Spalding Club Misc., i, 167.
5 Boguet, p. 127. « Horneck, pt. ii, p. 316. 7 More, p. 232.
T H E R I T E S 133
as in the modern Lancers. In both forms of the dance one of the chief members of the society was the ' ring-leader ', or leader of the dance. In the follow-my-leader dance this was often the Devil, but in the ring dances this place was usually taken by the second in command. When, however, the Devil was the leader, the second-in-command was in the rear to keep up those who could not move so quickly as the others. As pace was apparently of importance, and as it seems to have been a punishable offence to lag behind in the dance, this is possibly the origin of the expression 'The Devil take the hindmost '.
At North Berwick Barbara Napier met her comrades at the church, ' 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 of persons.' * Isobel Gowdie was unfortunately not encouraged to describe the dances in which she had taken part, so that our informa- tion, instead of being full and precise, is very meagre. 'Jean Martein is Maiden to the Coven that I am of; and her nick- name is " Over the dyke with it ", because the Devil always takes the Maiden in his hand next him, when we dance Gillatrypes ; and when he would loup from [words broken here] he and she will say, " Over the dyke with it." ' 2 Another Scotch example is Mr. Gideon Penman, who had been minister at Crighton. He usually ' was in the rear in all their dances, and beat up all those that were slow '.3 Barton's wife ' one night going to a dancing upon Pentland Hills, he [the Devil] went before us in the likeness of a rough tanny Dog, playing on a pair of Pipes '.* De Lancre concludes his description of the dances (see above, p. 131) by an account of an ' endlong' dance. ' La troisieme est aussi le dos tournd, mais se tenant tous en long, & sans se deprendre des mains, ils s'approchent de si pres qu'ils se touchent, & se rencontrent dos a dos, vn homme auec vne femme ; & a certaine cadance ils se choquent & frapent impudemment cul contre cul.1 5 It was perhaps this
1 Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 245-6. Spelling modernized.
2 Id., iii, p. 606. Spelling modernized. 3 Fountainhall, i, p. 14. 4 Sinclair, p. 163. 5 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 210.
134 T H E R I T E S
dance which the Devil led : ' Le Uiable voit parfois dancer simplement comme spectateur ; parfois il mene la dance, changeant souuent de main & se mettant a la main de celles qui luy plaisent le plus.' l In Northumberland in 1673 ' their particular divell tooke them that did most evill, and danced with them first. — The devill, in the forme of a little black man and black cloaths, called of one Isabell Thompson, of Slealy, widdow, by name, and required of her what service she had done him. She replyd she had gott power of the body of one Margarett Teasdale. And after he had danced with her he dismissed her, and call'd of one Thomasine, wife of Edward Watson, of Slealy.'2 Danaeus also notes that the Devil was the leader: 'The fal they to dauncing, wherin he leadeth the daunce, or els they hoppe and daunce merely about him.'3 This is perhaps what de Lancre means when he says that ' apres la dance ils se mettent par fois a sauter '.4 A curious variation of the follow-my-leader dance was practised at Aberdeen on Rood Day, a date which as I have shown else- where corresponds with the Walpurgis-Nacht of the German witches. The meeting took place upon St. Katherine's Hill, ' and there under the conduct of Satan, present with you, playing before you, after his form, ye all danced a devilish dance, riding on trees, by a long space.' 5
Other variations are also given. ' The dance is strange, and wonderful, as well as diabolical, for turning themselves back to back, they take one another by the arms and raise each other from the ground, then shake their heads to and fro like Anticks, and turn themselves^as if they were mad.' c Reginald Scot, quoting Bodin, says: 'At these magicall assemblies, the witches neuer faile to danse ; and in their danse they sing these words, Har har, divell divell, danse here danse here, plaie here plaie here, Sabbath sabbath. And whiles they sing and
1 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 212. 'l Surtees Soc., xl, pp. 195, 197.
" Danaeus, ch. iv. 4 De Lancre, op. cit., p. 211.
5 Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 165, 167. Spelling modernized. The account of the Arab witches should be compared with this. ' In the time of Ibn Munkidh the witches lode about naked on a stick between the graves of the cemetery of Shaizar.' Wellhausen, p. 1 59.
" PlctiS'tnt Treatise of Witches^ p. 6.
T H K K I T K S ,35
danse, euerie one hath a broome in hir 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? * There is also a description of one of the dances of the Italian witches : ' At Como and Brescia a number of children from eight to twelve years of age, who had frequented the Sabbat, and had been re-converted by the inquisitors, gave exhibitions in which their skill showed that they had not been taught by human art. The woman was held behind her partner and they danced backward, and when they paid reverence to the presiding demon they bent them- selves backwards, lifting a foot in the air forwards.' 2
In Lorraine the round dance always moved to the left. As the dancers faced outwards, this would mean that they moved ' widdershins ', i. e. against the sun. * Ferner, dass sie ihre Tantze in einem ronden Kreiss rings umbher fiihren, und die Riicke zusammen gekehret haben, wie eine unter den dreyen Gratiis pfleget fiirgerissen zu werden, und also zusammen tanzen. Sybilla Morelia sagt, dass der Reyhen allezeit auff der lincken Hand umbher gehe.' 3
One form of the witches' dance seems to survive among the children in the Walloon districts of Belgium. It appears to be a mixture of the ordinary round dance and the third of de Lancre's dances ; for it has no central personage, and the striking of back against back is a marked feature. ' Les enfants font une ronde et repetent un couplet. Chaque fois, un joueur designe fait demi-tour sur place et se remet a tourner avec les autres en faisant face a I'exterieur du cercle. Quand tous les joueurs sont retournes, ils se rapprochent et se heurtent le dos en cadence.' 4
4. The Music
The music at the assemblies was of all kinds, both instru- mental and vocal. The English trials hardly mention music, possibly because the Sabbath had fallen into a decadent con- dition ; but the Scotch and French trials prove that it was an integral part of the celebration. The Devil himself was the
1 Reg. Scot, Bk. Hi, p. 42. La volta is said to be the origin of the waltz. - Lea, iii, p. 501. s Remigius, p. 82. * E. Monseur, p. 102.
136 T H E R I T E S
usual performer, but other members of the society could also supply the music, and occasionally one person held the position of piper to the Devil. The music was always as an accompaniment of the dance ; the instrument in general use was a pipe, varied in England by a cittern, in Scotland by 4 the trump ' or Jew's harp, also an instrument played with the mouth.
The Somerset witches said that ' the Man in black sometimes playes on a Pipe or Cittern, and the company dance '.*
The North Berwick witches (1590), when at the special meeting called to compass the death of the king, ' danced along the Kirk-yeard, Geilis Duncan playing on a Trump.' 2 The instrument of the Aberdeen Devil (1597), though not specified, was probably a pipe ; it is usually called 4 his forme of instru- ment ' in the dittays. Isobel Cockie of Aberdeen was accused of being at a Sabbath on All-hallow Eve : ' Thou wast the ring- leader, next Thomas Leyis; and because the Devil played not so melodiously and well as thou crewit, thou took his instrument out of his mouth, then took him on the chaps therewith, and played thyself thereon to the whole company.' 3 At another meeting, Jonet Lucas was present : ' Thou and they was under the conduct of thy master, the Devil, dancing in ane ring, and he playing melodiously upon ane instrument, albeit invisibly to you.'4 At Tranent (1659) eight women and a man named John Douglas confessed to ' having merry meetings with Satan, enlivened with music and dancing. Douglas was the pyper, and the two favourite airs of his majesty were ll Kilt thy coat, Maggie, and come thy way with me", and " Hulie the bed will fa'." ' 5 Agnes Spark at Forfar (1661) 'did see about a dozen of people dancing, and they had sweet music amongst them, and, as she thought, it was the music of a pipe'.6 Barton's wife was at a meeting in the Pcntland Hills, where the Devil ' went before us in the like- ness of a rough tanny Dog, playing on a pair of Pipes. The
1 Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 141. 2 Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 239, 246.
3 Spalding Club Aft'sc., i, pp. 114-15. Spelling modernized.
4 Id., i, p. 149. Spelling modernized.
5 Spottisiuoode Miscellany r, ii, p. 68.
' Kinloch, p. 129. Spelling modernized.
T H E R I T E S 137
Spring he played (says she) was, The silly bit Chi ken, gar cast it a pickle and it will grow meikle.' l At Crook of Devon (1662) the two old witches, Margaret Huggon and Janet Paton, confessed to being at a meeting, and ' the fore- saids hail women was there likeways and did all dance and ane piper play'.2
In France the instruments were more varied. Marie d'Aspilcouette, aged nineteen, 'voyoit dancer auec violons, trompettes, ou tabourins, qui rendoyent vne tres grande har- monie '.3 Isaac de Queyran, aged twenty-five, said that a minor devil (dzabloton) played on a tambourine, while the witches danced.4 But as usual de Lancre is at his best when making a general summary :
' Elles dancent au son du petit tabourin & de la fluste, & par fois auec ce long instrument qu'ils posent sur le col, puis s'allongeant iusqu'aupres de la ceinture ; ils le battent auec vn petit baston : par fois auec vn violon. Mais ce ne sont les seuls instrumes du sabbat, car nous auos apprins de plusieurs, qu'on y oyt toute sorte d'instrumens, auec vne telle harmonic, qu'il n'y a concert au monde qui le puisse esgaler.' 5
Vocal music was also heard at the meetings, sometimes as an accompaniment of the dance, sometimes as an entertain- ment in itself. When it was sung as a part of the dance, the words were usually addressed to the Master, and took the form of a hymn of praise. Such a hymn addressed to the god of fertility would be full of allusions and words to shock the sensibilities of the Christian priests and ministers who sat in judgement on the witches. Danaeus gives a general account of these scenes : l Then fal they to dauncing, wherin he leadeth the daunce, or els they hoppe and daunce merely about him, singing most filthy songes made in his prayse.'6 Sinclair had his account from a clergyman : ' a reverend Minister told me, that one who was the Devils Piper, a wizzard confest 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
1 Sinclair, p. 163.
2 Burns Begg, pp. 234, 235. 3 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 127.
4 Id. ib., p. 150. 5 Id. ib., p. 211. 6 Danaeus, ch. iv.
[38 T H K HI T K S
the street. It were abomination to rehearse it.1 1 At Forfar Helen Guthrie told the court that Andrew Watson ' made great merriment by singing his old ballads, and Isobell Shirrie did sing her song called Tinkletum Tankletum '.- Occasionally the Devil himself was the performer, as at Innerkip, where according to Marie Lament ' he sung to us and we all dancit '.a Boguet notes that the music was sometimes vocal and some- times instrumental : ' Les haubois ne manquent pas a ces esbats : car il y en a qui sont commis a faire le devoir de menestrier ; Satan y iouc mesme de la flutte le plus souuent ; & a d'autre- fois les Sorciers se contentent de chanter a la voix, disant toutefois leurs chansons pesle'-mesle, & auec vne confusion telle, qu'ils ne s'entendent pas les vns les autres.' 4 At Aix in 1610 ' the Magicians and those that can reade, sing certaine Psalmes as they doe in the Church, especially Laudate Domi- num de Coelis : Confitemini domino quoniam bonus, and the Canticle Benedicite, transferring all to the praise of Lucifer and the Diuels : And the Hagges and Sorcerers doe houle and vary their hellish cries high and low counterfeiting a kinde of villanous musicke. They also daunce at the sound of Viols and other instruments, which are brought thither by those that were skild to play vpon them.' "' At another French trial in 1652 the evidence showed that ' on clansait sans musique, aux chansons'.11
5. The Feast
The feast, like the rest of the ritual, varied in detail in different places. It took place either indoors or out according to the climate and the season ; in Southern France almost invariably in the open air, in Scotland and Sweden almost always under cover ; in England sometimes one, sometimes the other. Where it was usual to have it in the open, tables were carried out and the food laid upon them ; indoor feasts were always spread on tables ; but in the English accounts of the open-air meal the cloth was spread, picnic-fashion, on the ground. The food was supplied in different ways ; some-
1 Sinclair, p. 219. 2 Kinloch, p. 120. 3 Sharpe, p. 131.
4 Boguet, p. 132. 3 Michaelis, Hist., p. 336.
" Van Elven, v (1891), p. 215.
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'39
times entirely by the devil, sometimes entirely by one member of the community, and sometimes — picnic-fashion again— all the company brought their own provisions. Consequently the quality of the food varied considerably ; on some occasions it was very good, on others very homely. But no matter who provided it, the thanks of the feasters were solemnly and reverently given to the Master, to whose power the production of all food was due.
In a certain number of cases it is said that the food eaten at the feasts was of an unsatisfying nature. This statement is usually made in the general descriptions given by contemporary writers ; it is rarely found in the personal confessions. When it does so occur, it is worth noting that the witch is generally a young girl. If this were always the case, it would be quite possible that then, as now, dancing and excitement had a great effect on the appetite, and that the ordinary amount of food would appear insufficient.
The taboo on salt is interesting, but it does not appear to have been by any means universal. It does not seem to occur at all in Great Britain, where the food at the feasts was quite normal.
Some authorities appear to think that the witches ate the best of everything. ' They sit to Table where no delicate meats are wanting to gratifie their Appetites, all dainties being brought in the tvvinckling of an Eye, by those spirits that attend the Assembly '.l Though this is dramatically expressed it is confirmed by the statements of the witches themselves. The Lancashire witches had a great feast when they met in Malking Tower to consult as to the rescue of Mother Demdike.
1 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, this Examinates said brother : and in this Examinates sight killed and eaten. . . . And before their said parting away, they all appointed to meete at the said Prestons wiues house that day twelue-moneths ; at which time the said Prestons wife promised to make them a great Feast.' 2
1 Pleasant Treatise of Wishes, p. $. " Potts, 03. I 3, P 3-
140 T H E R I T E S
The feast of the Faversham witches was also indoors. ' Joan Cariden confessed that Goodwife Hott told her within these two daies that there was a great meeting at Goodwife Panterys house, and that Goodwife Dodson was there, and that Goodwife Gardner should have been there, but did not come, and the Divell sat at the upper end of the Table." ' This was always the Devil's place at the feast, and beside him sat the chief of the women witches. The Somerset trials give more detail than any of the other English cases. Elizabeth Style said that ' at their meeting they have usually Wine or good Beer, Cakes, Meat or the like. They eat and drink really when they meet in their bodies, dance also and have Musick. The Man in black sits at the higher end, and Anne Bishop usually next him. He useth some words before meat, and none after, his voice is audible, but very low.' 2 She enters into a little more detail in another place : l They had Wine, Cakes, and Roastmeat (all brought by the Man in black) which they did eat and drink. They danced and were merry, and were bodily there, and in their Clothes.' 3 Alice Duke gave a similar account : ' All sate down, a white Cloth being spread on the ground, and did drink Wine, and eat Cakes and Meat.' * The Scotch trials show that it was usually the witches who entertained the Master and the rest of the band. Alison Peirson, whose adventures among the fairies are very inter- esting, stated that a man in green ' apperit to hir, ane lustie mane, with mony mene and wemen with him : And that scho sanit her and prayit, and past with thame 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 thame '.5 On another occasion a very considerable meeting took place * in an old house near Castle Semple, where a splendid feast was prepared, which pleased the royal visitor so much, that he complimented his entertainers for their hospitality, and endearingly addressed them as " his bairns " '.c The Forfar witches had many feasts ; Helen Guthrie says of one occasion :
1 Examination of Joan Wiiliford, p. 6.
2 Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 139-40. 3 Id., p. 138. 4 Id., p. 149. 5 Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 163- * Spottiswoode Misc., ii, p. 67.
T H E R ITES 141
' They went to Mary Rynd's house and sat doune together at the table, the divell being- present at the head of it ; and some of them went to Johne Benny's house, he being a brewer, and brought ale from hence . . . and others of them went to Alexander Hieche's and brought aqua vitae from thence, and thus made themselfes mirrie ; and the divill made much of them all, but especiallie of Mary Rynd, and he kist them all except the said Helen herselfe, whose hand onlie he kist ; and shee and Jonet Stout satt opposite one to another at the table.' ]
Of the meeting at Muryknowes there are several accounts. The first is by little Jonet Howat, Helen Guthrie's young daughter : ' At this meiting there wer about twenty persones present with the divill, and they daunccd togither and eat togither, having bieff, bread, and ale, and shoe did eat and drink with them hir self, bot hir bellie was not filled, and shoe filled the drink to the rest of the company.' 2 Elspet Alexander confirms this statement, k The divill and the witches did drinke together having flesh, bread, and aile ' ; :s and so also does the Jonet Stout who sat opposite to Helen Guthrie at the table, 1 The divill and the said witches did eat and drinke, having flesh, bread, and aile upon ane table, and Joanet Huit was caper and filled the drinke '.4 On one occasion they tried to wreck the Bridge of Cortaquhie ; ' when we had done, Elspet [Bruce] gaive the divell ane goose in hir own house, and he dated hir mor than them all, because shee was ane prcttie woman.1 5 The Kinross-shire witches obtained their food from the Devil, and this is one of the few instances of complaints as to the quality of it. ' Sathan gave you [Robert Wilson] both meat and drink sundry times, but it never did you any good ' ; 6 and Janet Brugh ' confessed that ye got rough bread and sour drink from Sathan at the Bents of Balruddrie '.7 According to Marie Lament, ' the devill came to Kattrein Scott's house, in the midst of the night. He gave them wyn to drink, and wheat bread to eat, and they warr all very mirrie.' 8 Isobel Gowdie's confession gives a wealth of detail as usual :
'We would go to several houses in the night time. We
1 Kinloch, p. 121. 2 Id., p. 124. 3 Id., p. 126.
4 Id., p. 127. 5 Id., p. 133. Dated = caressed.
6 Burns Begg, p. 227. 7 Id., p. 238. 8 Sharpe, p. 131.
142 T H E R I TE S
were at Candlemas last in Grangehill, where we got meat and drink enough. The Devil sat at the head of the table, and all the Coven about. That night he desired Alexander Elder in Earlseat to say the grace before meat, which he did ; and is this : l " We eat this meat in the Devil's name " [etc.]. And then we began to eat. And when we had ended eating, we looked steadfastly to the Devil, and bowing ourselves to him, we said to the Devil, We thank thee, our Lord, for this. — We killed an ox, in Burgie, about the dawing of the day, and we brought the ox with us home to Aulderne, and did eat all amongst us in an house in Aulderne, and feasted on it.'2
At Borrovvstowness the witches went to different houses for their feasts, which seem to have been supplied partly by the hostess, partly by the Devil and the guests.
1 Ye and each person of you was at several meetings with the devil in the links of Borrowstovvness, and in the house of you Bessie Vickar, and ye did eat and drink with the devil, and with one another, and with witches in her house in the night time ; and the devil and the said William Craw brought the ale which ye drank, extending to about seven gallons, from the house of Elizabeth Hamilton.' 3
In 1692 Goodwife Foster of Salem gave a rather charming description of the picnic feast with the Coven from Andover :
4 1 enquired what she did for Victuals ' [at the meeting] ; 4 She answered that she carried Bread and Cheese in her pocket, and that she and the Andover Company came to the Village before the Meeting began, and sat down together under a tree, and eat their food, and that she drank water out of a Brook to quench her thirst.'4
The Continental evidence varies very little from the British. Except in a few details, the main facts are practically the same. De Lancre summarizes the evidence which he himself collected, and contrasts it with what other authorities said on the subject :
4 Les liures disent que les sorciers mangent au Sabbat de ce que le Diable leur a appreste : mais bien souuet il ne s'y
1 The complete grace is given on p. 167. It will be seen that it is a corrupt version of some ancient form of words. * Pitcaim, ui, pp. 612, 613. Spelling modernized. 3 Scots Magazine, 1814, p. 200. Spelling modernized. 4 Burr, p. 418.
THE RITES
trouue que des viandes qu'ils ont porte eux mesmes. Parfois il y a plusieurs tables seruies de bons viures, & d'autres fois de tres meschans : & a table on se sied selon sa qualite, ayant chacun son Demon assis aupres, Si parfois vis a vis. Us benissent leur table inuoquant Beelzebub, & le tenant pour celui qui leur faict ce bien.'1
The young man-witch, Isaac de Queyran, told de Lancre that the witches sat at a table with the Black Man at the end, and had bread and meat which was spread on a cloth.2 The evidence at the trial of Louis Gaufredy at Aix in 1610 gives other details, though the eating of children's flesh is probably an exaggeration :
'They prouide a banquet, setting three tables according to the three diuersities of the people above named. They that haue the charge of bread, doe bring in bread made of corne. The drink which they haue is Malmsey. The meate they ordinarily eate is the flesh of young children, which they cooke and make ready in the Synagogue, sometimes bringing them thither aliue by stealing them from those houses where they haue opportunity to come. They haue no vse of kniues at table for feare least they should be laid a crosse. They haue also no salt.' 3
Boguet also collected a considerable amount of information from the witches who fell into his hands :
'Les Sorciers, apres s'estre veautrez parmi les plaisirs im- mondes de la chair, banquettent & se festoient : leurs banquets estans composez de plusieurs sortes de viandes, selon les lieux, & qualitez des personnes. Par deca la table estoit couuerte de beurre, de fromage, & de chair. Clauda languillaume, laquema Paget, & quelques autres adioustoient qu'il y auoit vne grande chaudiere sur le feu, dans laquelle chacun alloit prendre de la chair. On y boit aussi du vin, & le plus souuent de 1'eau. . . . Antoine Tornier a confesse qu'elle en auoit beu [le vin] dans vn goubelet de bois ; les autres parloient seule- ment d'eau. Mais il n'y a iamais sel en ces repas . . . Les Sorciers auant que de prendre leur repas benissent la table, mais auec des parolles remplies de blasphemes, faisans Beel- zebub autheur & conseruateur de toutes choses ... Us ac- cordent tous, qu'il n'y a point de gout aux viandes qu'ils mangent au Sabbat, & que la chair n'est autre chair que de cheual. Et adioustent en outre, que lors qu'ils sortent de
1 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 197. 2 Id. ib., p. 148. 3 Michaelis,
Historic, pp. 335-6.
144 THE RITES
table, ils sont aussi affamez que quand ils entrant. Amide Colas racontoit particulierement que les viandes estoient froides. . . . Toutesfois il faut croire que bien souuent Ton mange au Sabbat a bon escient, & non par fantaisie & imagination.' *
The cold food occurs also in the accusation against a Belgian witch, Elizabeth Vlamynx, in 1595: * Vous-meme vous avez apporte aux convives un hochepot [hutsepot] froid, que vous aviez prepare d'avance.'2
In Sweden the witches collected the food and sent it to the Devil, who gave them as much of it as he thought fit. The feast was always held indoors in the house known as Block u la.
1 In a huge large Room of this House, they said, there stood a very long Table, at which the Witches did sit down. . . . They sate down to Table, and those that the Devil esteemed most, were placed nearest to him, but the Children must stand at the door, where he himself gives them meat and drink. The diet they did use to have there, was, they said, Broth with Colworts and Bacon in it, Oatmeal, Bread spread with Butter, Milk and Cheese. And they added that sometimes it tasted very well, and sometimes very ill.'3
6. Candles
At first sight it would seem that the candles were naturally used only to illuminate the midnight festivities, but the evidence points to the burning lights being part of the ritual. This is also suggested by the importance, in the cult, of the early- spring festival of Candlemas ; a festival which has long been recognized as of pre-Christian origin.
The light is particularly mentioned in many instances as being carried by the Devil, usually on his head ; the witches often lit their torches and candles at this flame, though some- times it seems that the Devil lit the torch and then presented it to the witch. To call the chief of the cult I.ucifer was therefore peculiarly appropriate, especially at the Candlemas Sabbath.
In 1 574 the witches of Poictiers went to a cross- roads : l la se trouuoit vn grand bouc noir, qui parloit comnie vne personne
1 Boguet, pp. 135-9. * Cannacrt, p. 45. s Horneck, pp. .321-2, 327.
T H E R I T E S 145
aux assistans, & dansoyent a 1'entour du bouc : puis vn chacun luy baisoit le derriere, auec vne chandelle ardente.'1 The witches of North Berwick in 1590 mention candles as part of the ritual :
'At ther meting be nycht in the kirk of Northberick, the deuell, cled in a blak gown with a blak hat upon his head, preachit vnto a gret nomber of them out of the pulpit, having lyk leicht candles rond about him.2 — John Fian blew up the Kirk doors, and blew in the lights, which were like mickle black candles, holden in an old man's hand, round about the pulpit.3 — [John Fian] was taken to North Berwick church where Satan commanded him to make him homage with the rest of his servants ; where he thought he saw the light of a candle, standing in the midst of his servants, which appeared blue lowe [flame].'4
In 1594 at Puy-de-D6me Jane Bosdeau went 'at Midnight on the Eve of St John into a Field, where there appeared a great Black Goat with a Candle between his HornsJ.5 At Aberdeen in 1597 Marion Grant confessed that 'the Deuill apperit to the, within this auchteine dayis or thairby, quhome thow callis thy god, about ane hour in the nicht, and apperit to the in ane gryte man his lickness, in silkin abuilzeament [habiliment], withe ane quhyt candill in his hand '." In 1598 the witches whom Boguet tried said that —
'les Sorciers estans assembles en leur Synagogue adorent premierement Satan, qui apparoit la, tantost en forme d'vn grand homme noir, tantost en forme de bouc, & pour plus grand hommage, ils luy offrent des chandelles, qui rendent vne flamme de couleur bleiie. Quelquefois encor il tient vne image noire, qu'il fait baiser aux Sorciers. Antide Colas & ses compagnes, en baisant ceste image, offroient vne chandelle ou buche d'estrain ardente. Ces chandelles leur sont baillees par le Diable, & se perdent & esuanouissent des lors qu'elles luy ont este offertes. II s'en est trouue qui ont confesse qu'ils alloient allumer le plus souuent leurs chandelles a vne autre chandelle, que le Demon, estant en forme de bouc, portoit au dessus de la teste entre les deux comes.' 1
1 Bodin, FUau, p. 187. ' Melville, p. 395-
* Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 246. The ploughman, Gray Meal, who took a large part in the ceremonies, was an old man.
4 Id., i, pt. ii, p. 210. 5 F. Hutchinson, Hist. Essay, p. 42.
6 Spalding Club Misc., i, p. 172. 7 Boguet, p. 131.
2405 K
i46 T H E R I T E S
Some of the witches of the Basses-Pyrenees, tried in 1609, said that the Devil was
' comme vn grand bouc, ayat deux comes deuant & deux en derriere. Mais le commun est qu'il a seulement trois cornes, & qu'il a quelque espece de lumiere en celle du milieu, de laquelle il a accoustume au sabbat d'esclairer, & donner du feu & de la lumiere, mesmes ;i ces Sorcieres qui tiennent quelques chandelles alumees aux ceremonies de la Messe qu'ils veulent contrefaire. On luy voit aussi quelque espece de bonet ou chapeau au dcssus de ses cornes. — Toute Tassemblee le vient adorer le baisant sous la queue, & allumant des chandelles noires.' ]
Barthelemy Minguet of Brecy, a man of twenty-five, tried in 1616, described the ceremonies of the Sabbath; after the sermon the worshippers ' vont a 1'offerte, tenant en leurs mains des chandelles de poix noire qui leur sont donnees par le Diable '.2 In 1646 Elizabeth Weed of Great Catworth, Hunts, confessed that the Devil came to her at night, 'and being demanded what light was there, she answered, none but the light of the Spirit.' ! In 1652 a French witch stated that at the Sabbath ' on dansait sans musique, aux chansons. Toutes les femmes y etoient tenues par les diables par lors il y avoit de la lumiere une chandelle tenue au millieu par une femme que ne connoit . . . Au milieux il y auoit une feme masquee tenant une chandelle.' 4 Barton's wife was at a witch meeting in the Pentland Hills, ' and coming down the hill when we had done, which was the best sport, he [the Devil] carried the candle in his bottom under his tail, which played ey wig wag wig wag.' '' Helen Guthrie in 1661 does not expressly mention candles or torches, but her description of the flickering light on the ground suggests their use. She ' was at a meiting in the churchyeard of Forfar in the Holfe therof, and they diunced togither, and the ground under them wes all fyre
1 De Lancre, Tableau, pp. 68, 401. z Id., L'Incredu tits', p. £05.
3 Davenport, p. 2. 4 Van Elven, La Tradition, v (1891), p. 215.
fi Sinclair, p. 163. The account given by Barton's wife of the position of the candle on the Devil's person is paralleled by the peculiarly coarse description of the Light-bearers at the witch-sabbaths at Mimster. Humborg, p. 120.
T H E R I T R S 147
flauchter '.' The Somerset witches stated that, when they met, ' the Man in Black bids them welcome, and they all make low obeysance to him, and he delivers some Wax Candles like little Torches, which they give back again at parting.' 2 The light seems to have been sometimes so arranged, probably in a lantern, as to be diffused. This was the case at Torryburn, where the assembly was lit by a light l which came from darkness ', it was sufficiently strong for the dancers to see one another's faces, and to show the Devil wearing a cap or hood which covered his neck and ears.3 The latest account of a witch-meeting in the eighteenth century describes how the witches of Strathdown went to Pol-nain and there were 1 steering themselves to and fro in their riddles, by means of their oars the brooms, hallooing and skirling worse than the bogles, and each holding in her left hand a torch of fir'.4
There is one account where the candle was for use and not for ritual. John Stuart of Paisley, in 1678, admitted the Devil and some witches into his room one night in order to make a clay image of an enemy. ' Declares, that the black man did make the figure of the Head and Face and two Arms to the said Effigies. Declares, that the Devil set three Pins in the same, one in each side, and one in the Breast : And that the Declarant did hold the Candle to them all the time the Picture was making.1 5 John Stuart was the principal person on this occasion, and therefore had the honour of holding the light. The description of the event suggests that the saying ' To hold a candle to the Devil ' took its rise in actual fact.
The material of which the candles or torches were made was pitch, according to de Lancre, and at North Berwick the lights were ' like lighted candles ' burning with a blue flame. The white candle seems to have been essentially the attribute of the devil, the black candles or torches being distinctive of the witches. That the lights burned blue is due to the material of which the torches were made. The evanescent character of the light, when a wisp of straw was used, is noted in the evidence of Antide Colas.
1 Kinloch, p. 120. 2 Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 139.
3 Chambers, iii, p. 298. 4 Stewart, p. 175. 6 Glanvil, pt.ii, p. 294.
K 2
148 T H E R I T E S
7. The Sacrament
The earliest example of the religious services occurs in 1324 in the trial of Lady Alice Kyteler: 'In rifeling the closet of the ladie, they found a Wafer of sacramentall bread, hauing the diuels name stamped thereon in stead of Jesus Christ.'1 According to Boguet (1589) the Devil did not always perform the religious service himself, but mass was celebrated by a priest among his followers ; this custom is found in all countries and seems to have been as common as that the Devil himself should perform the service.
1 Celuy, qui est commis a faire 1'office, est reuestu dVne chappe noire sans croix, & apres auoir mis de 1'eau dans le calice, il tourne le doz a 1'autel, & puis esleue vn rond de raue teinte en noir, au lieu de 1'hostie, & lors tous les Sorciers crient a haute voix, Maistre^ aide nous. Le Diable en mesme temps pisse dans vn trou a terre, & fait de 1'eau beniste de son vrine, de laquelle celuy, qui dit la messe, arrouse tous les assistans auec vn asperges noir.' *
The Devil of the Basses Pyrenees (1609) performed the religious ceremony himself:
1 II s habille en Prestre pour dire Messe, laquelle il fait semblant de celebrer auec mille fourbes & souplesses, aupres d'vn arbre, ou parfois aupres d'vn rocher, dressant quelque forme d'autel sur des colones infernales, & sur iceluy sans dire le Confiteor^ ny \ Alleluya, tournant les feuillets d'vn certain liure qu'il a en main, il commence a marmoter quel- ques mots de la Messe, & arriuant a 1'ofTertoire il s'assiet, & toute 1'assemblee le vient adorer le baisant sous la queue, & allumant des chandelles noires : Puis luy baisent la main gauche, tremblans auec mille angoisses, & luy offrent du pain, des ceufs, & de 1'argent: & la Royne du Sabbat les recoit, laquelle est assisc a son coste gauche, & en sa main gauche elle tient vne paix ou platine, dans laquelle est grauee 1'effigie de Lucifer, laquelle on ne baise qu'apres 1'auoir pre- mierement baisee a elle. Puis il se met a prescher, son subiect est communement de la vaine gloire. ... II finit son sermon, & continue ses autres ceremonies, leuant vne certaine Hostie laquelle est noire & ronde, auec sa figure imprimee au dessus : & disant ces paroles, Cecy est man corps, il leue 1'Hostie sur sescornes : & a cette esleuatio tous ceux de 1'assemblee 1'adoret
1 Holinshed, Ireland, p. 58. " Hoguet, p. 141.
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149
en disant ces mots, Aquerra Goity.Aqtierra Beyty.Aquerra Goity, Aquerra Beyty, qui veut dire, Cabron arriba, Cabron abaro, de mesme en font ils au Calice repetant ces mots, iusqu'a ce qu'il a vuide tout ce qui est dans iceluy. Puis toute 1'assemblee enuironnant 1'autel en forme de croissant ou demy-lune, prosternez par terre, il leur fait vn autre sermon, puis leur bailie a communier par ordre, donnant a chacun vn petit morceau de 1'hostie, & pour leur donner moyen de 1'aualer aisement, il leur donne deux gorgees de quelque medicine infernale, & certain breuuage de si mauuais goust & odeur, que 1'aualant ils suent, & neantmoins il est si froid, qu'il leur gele le corps, les nerfs, & les moiielles. Puis il s'accouple auec elles, & leur commande d'en faire de mesme, si bien qu'ils commettent mille incestes & autres pechez contre nature. Puis il les inuite a se mettre a table.1 1
At Aix in 1 6 10 Magdalene de Demandouls 'said that that accursed Magician Lewes [Gaufredy] did first inuent the saying of Masse at the Sabbaths, and did really consecrate and present the sacrifice to Lucifer. . . . She also related, that the said Magician did sprinkle the consecrated wine vpon all the company, at which time euery one cryeth, Sanguts ems siiper nos &Jittos nostros! 2
Lord Fountainhall remarks, 'In 1670 we heard that the Devil appeared in the shape of a Minister, in the copper mines of Sweden, and attempted the same villainous. apery.'3 The Scotch witches, like the Swedish, performed the rite after the manner of the Reformed Churches. In 1678 —
1 the devill had a great meeting of witches in Loudian, where, among others, was a warlock who formerly had been admitted to the ministrie in the presbyterian tymes, and when the bishops came in, conformed with them. But being found flagitious and wicked, was deposed by them, and now he turnes a preacher under the devill of hellish doctrine ; for the devill at this tyme preaches to his witches really (if I may so term it) the doctrine of the infernall pitt, viz. blasphemies against God and his son Christ. Among other things, he told them that they were more happy in him than they could be in God ; him they saw, but God they could not see ; and in mockrie of Christ and his holy ordinance of the sacrament
1 De Lancre, Tableau, pp. 401-2.
2 Michaelis, Hist., p. 337. The use of this phrase suggests that the sprinkling was a fertility rite.
3 Fountainhall, i, pp. 14, 15.
i5o T H E R I T E S
of his supper, he gives the sacrament to them, bidding them eat it and to drink it in remembrance of himself. This villan was assisting to Sathan in this action, and in preaching.' l
Fountainhall in writing of the same convention of witches says that the Devil ' adventured to give them the communion or holy sacrament, the bread was like wafers, the drink was sometimes blood sometimes black moss-water. He preached and most blasphemously mocked them, if they offered to trust in God who left them miserable in the world, and neither he nor his Son Jesus Christ ever appeared to them when they called on them, as he had, who would not cheat them.'2
The Abbe Guibourg (1679), head of the Paris witches, 'a fait chez la Voisin, revetu d'aube, d'etole et de manipule, une conjuration.' a The same Abbe celebrated mass more than once over the body of a woman and with the blood of a child, sacrificed for the occasion, in the chalice (see section on Sacrifice). The woman, who served as the altar for these masses, was always nude, and was the person for whose benefit the ceremony was performed. Marguerite Montvoisin makes this clear :
4 II est vrai aussi qu'une sage-femme qui demeurait au coin de la rue des Deux-Portes, distilla aussi les entrailles d'un enfant dont la mere y avail accouche. . . . Avant la distillation, les entrailles de 1'enfant et 1'arriere-faix de la mere avaient etc portes a Saint-Denis, a Guibourg, par sa mere, la sage- femme et la mere de 1'enfant, sur le ventre de laquelle sa mere, a son retour, lui dit que Guibourg avail dit la messe.'4
Guibourg acknowledged that, besides the one just quoted, he celebrated three masses in this way. At the first he used a conjuration. ' II dit la deuxieme messe dans une masure sur les remparts de Saint-Denis, sur la meme femme, avec les memes ceremonies. . . . Dit la troisieme a Paris chez la Voisin sur la meme femme. ' 5 The woman mentioned in Guibourg's confession was Madame de Montespan herself. The following conjuration was used at the first mass
'sur le ventre d'une femme': ' Astaroth, Asmodee, princes d'amitie, je vous conjure d'accepter le sacrifice que je vous
1 Law, p. 145. ' Fountainhall, i, p. 14. 3 Ravaisson, 1679-81, p. 336. 4 Id-, p. 333. 5 Id., p. 335.
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presente de cet enfant pour les choses que je vous demande, qui sont 1'amitie du Roi,deMgr le Dauphin me soit continuee et etre honoree des princes et princesses de la cour, que rien ne me soit denie de tout ce que je demanderai au Roi, tant pour mes parents que serviteurs.'1
A very interesting case is that of the Rev. George Bur- roughs in New England (1692):
' 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, now going to be Erected. . . . One Lacy testify 'd that she and the prisoner [Martha Carrier] were once Bodily present at a Witch- meeting in Salem Village ; and that she knew the prisoner to be a Witch, and to have been at a Diabolical sacrament. . . . Another Lacy testify 'd that the prisoner was at the Witch-meeting, in Salem Village, where they had Bread and Wine Administred unto them. . . . Deliver- ance Hobbs affirmed that this [Bridget] Bishop was at a General Meeting of the Witches, in a Eield at ^SVz/^z-Village, and there partook of a Diabolical Sacrament in Bread and Wine then administred.' 2
Hutchinson had access to the same records and gives the same evidence, though even more strongly : ' Richard Carrier affirmed to the jury that he saw Mr. George Burroughs at the witch meeting at the village and saw him administer the sacrament. Mary Lacy, senr. and her daughter Mary affirmed that Mr. George Burroughs was at the witch meetings with witch sacrements, and that she knows Mr. Burroughs to be of the company of witches.' 3 John Hale has a similar record : 1 This D. H. [Deliverance Hobbs] confessed she was at a Witch Meeting at Salem Village. . . . And the said G. B. preached to them, and such a Woman was their Deacon, and there they had a Sacrament.'4 Abigail Williams said 'that the Witches had a Sacrament that day at an house in the Village, and that they had Red Bread and Red Drink'? With the evidence before him Mather seems justified in saying that the witches had 'their Diabolical Sacraments, imitating the Baptism and the Supper of our Lord \6
1 Ravaisson, p. 335. 2 Cotton Mather, pp. 120, 131, 158.
3 J. Hutchinson, Hist, of Massachusetts Bay, ii, p. 55- ' Burr' P- 0 Increase Mather, p. 210. 6 Cotton Mather, p. 81.
i52 T H E R I T E S
8. Sacrifices
There are four forms of sacrifice: (i) the blood sacrifice, which was performed by making an offering of the witch's own blood ; (2) the sacrifice of an animal ; (3) the sacrifice of a human being, usually a child ; (4) the sacrifice of the god.
i . The blood-sacrifice took place first at the admission of the neophyte. Originally a sacrifice, it was afterwards joined to the other ceremony of signing the contract, the blood serving as the writing fluid ; it also seems to be confused in the seventeenth century with the pricking for the Mark, but the earlier evidence is clear. A writer who generalizes on the witchcraft religion and who recognizes the sacrificial nature of the act is Cooper ; as he wrote in 1617 his evidence belongs practically to the sixteenth century. He says :
4 In further token of their subjection unto Satan in yeelding vp themselues wholy vnto his deuotion, behold yet another ceremony heere vsually is performed : namely, to let them- se/ues bloud in some apparant place of the body, yeelding the same to be sucked by Satan, as a sacrifice vnto him, and testifying thereby the full subiection of their Hues and soules to his deuotion.' *
The earliest account of the ceremony is at Chelmsford in 1556. Elizabeth Francis ' learned this arte of witchcraft from her grandmother. When shee taughte it her, she counselled her to geue of her bloudde to Sathan (as she termed it) whyche she delyuered to her in the lykenesse of a whyte spotted Catte. Euery time that he [the cat] did any thynge for her, she sayde that he required a drop of bloude, which she gaue him by prycking herselfe.' Some time after, Elizabeth Francis presented the Satan-cat to Mother Waterhouse, pass- ing on to her the instructions received from Elizabeth's grandmother. Mother Waterhouse ' gaue him for his labour a chicken, which he fyrste required of her and a drop of her blod. And thys she gaue him at all times when he dyd any thynge for her, by pricking her hand or face and puttinge
1 Cooper, p. 91.
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the bloud to hys mouth whyche he sucked.'1 In 1566 John Walsh, a Dorset witch, confessed that 'at the first time when he had the Spirite, hys sayd maister did cause him to deliuer one drop of his blud, whych bloud the Spirite did take away vpon hys paw'.2 In Belgium in 1603 Claire Goessen, 'apres avoir donne a boire de son sang a Satan, et avoir bu du sien, a fait avec lui un pacte.' 3
In the case of the Lancashire witch, Margaret Johnson, in 1633, it is difficult to say whether the pricking was for the purpose of marking or for a blood sacrifice ; the slight verbal alterations in the two MS. accounts of her confession sug- gest a confusion between the two ideas ; the one appears to refer to the mark, the other (quoted here) to the sacrifice : ' Such witches as have sharp bones given them by the devill to pricke them, have no pappes or dugges whereon theire devil may sucke ; but theire devill receiveth bloud from the place, pricked with the bone ; and they are more grand witches than any yl have marks.'4 In Suffolk in 1645 1 one Bush of Barton widdow confessed that the Deuill appeared to her in the shape of a young black man . . . and asked her for bloud, which he drew out of her mouth, and it dropped on a paper \rj At Auldearne, in 1662, the blood was drawn for baptizing the witch ; Isobel Gowdie said, ' The Divell marked me in the showlder, and suked owt my blood at that mark, and spowted it in his hand, and, sprinkling it on my head, said, u I baptise the, Janet, in my awin name." Janet Breadheid's evidence is practically the same : ' The Divell marked me in the shoulder, and suked out my blood with his movvth at that place ; he spowted it in his hand, and sprinkled it on my head. He baptised me thairvith, in his awin nam, Christian.'0
2. The sacrifice of animals was general, and the accounts give a certain amount of detail, but the ceremony was not as a rule sufficiently dramatic to be considered worth recording. The actual method of killing the animal is hardly ever given. The rite was usually performed privately by an individual ; on
1 Chehnsford Witches^ pp. 24, 26, 29, 30. Philobiblon Society, viii.
2 Examination of John Walsh. 3 Cannaert, p. 48.
* Whitaker, p. 216. 5 Stearne, p. 29. 6 Fitcairn, iii, pp.-6o3, 617.
i54 THE RITES
rare occasions it was celebrated by a whole Coven, but it does not occur at the Great Assembly, for there the sacrifice was of the God himself. The animals offered were generally a dog, a cat, or a fowl, and it is noteworthy that these were forms in which the Devil often appeared to his worshippers.
The chief authorities all agree as to the fact of animal sacrifices. Cotta compares it with the sacrifices offered by the heathen :
' Some bring their cursed Sorcery vnto their wished end, by sacrificing vnto the Diuell some liuing creatures, as Serres likewise witnesseth, from the confession of Witches in Henry the fourth of France deprehended, among whom, one con- fessed to haue offered vnto his Deuill or Spirit a Beetle. This seemeth not improbable, by the Diabolicall litations (sic] and bloudy sacrifices, not onely of other creatures, but euen of men, wherewith in ancient time the heathen pleased their gods, which were no other then Diuels.'1
The number of sacrifices in the year is exaggerated by the writers on the subject, but the witches themselves are often quite definite in their information when it happens to be recorded. It appears from their statements that the rite was performed only on certain occasions, either to obtain help or as a thank-offering. Danaeus, speaking of the newly admitted witch, says, ' Then this vngracious and new servant of satan, euery day afterward offreth something of his goods to his patrone, some his dogge, some his hen, and some his cat.1 2 Scot, who always improves on his original, states that the witches depart after the Sabbath, ' not forgetting euery daie afterwards to offer to him, dogs, cats, hens, or bloud of their owne.1 3
The earliest witch-trial in the British Isles shows animal sacrifice. In 1324 in Ireland Lady Alice Kyteler 'was charged to haue nightlie conference with a spirit called Robin Artisson, to whom she sacrificed in the high waie .ix. red cocks'.4 In 1566 at Chelmsford Mother Waterhouse ' gaue him [i.e. the Satan-cat] for his labour a chicken, which he fyrste required of her, and a drop of her blod . . . Another tyme she rewarded hym as before, wyth a chicken and a droppe
1 Cotta, p. 114. " Danaeus, ch. iv.
R. Scot, Bk. Ill, p. 44. « Holinshed, Ireland, p. 58.
3
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of her bloud, which chicken he eate vp cleane as he didde al the rest, and she cold fynde remaining neyther bones nor fethers.' 1 Joan Waterhouse, daughter of Mother Waterhouse, a girl of eighteen, said that the Deuil came in the likeness of a great dog, ' then asked hee her what she wolde geue hym, and she saide a red kocke.' 2 John Walsh of Dorset, in 1566, confessed that ' when he would call him [the Spirit], hee sayth hee must geue hym some lyuing thing, as a Chicken, a Cat, or a Dog. And further he sayth he must geue hym twoo lyuing thynges once a yeare.'3 In Lorraine in 1589 Beatrix Baonensis said, l Etliche geben junge Hiiner, oder wohl alte Hiiner, wie Desideria Pari iensis, und Cathelonia Vincentia gethan batten : Etliche schneiden ihre Haar ab und lieffern dieselbe dahin, etliche geben Spaher, etliche Vogel oder sonst nicht viel besonders, als da sein mochte gemiintzt Geld aus Rindern Ledder, und wenn sie dergleichen nichts haben, so verschafft es ihnen ihr Geist, auff dass sie staffirt seyn.'4 In Aberdeen in 1597 Andro Man gave evidence that 'the Devill thy maister, whom thow termis Christsunday ... 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 Maikpeblisl^ At Lang Niddry in 1608 the whole Coven performed a rite, beginning at the ' irne zet of Seatoun ', where they christened a cat by the name of Margaret, ' and thaireftir come all bak agane to the Deane-fute, quhair first thai convenit, and cuist the kat to the Devill.' G In 1630 Alexander Hamilton had consultations with the Devil near Edinburgh, ' and afoir the devill his away passing the said Alexr was in use to cast to him ather ane kat or ane laif or ane dog or any uther sic beast he come be.'7 In Bute in
1 Philobiblon Society, viii, Chelmsford Witches, pp. 29, 30.
" Id. ib., viii, p. 34. 3 Examination of John Walsh.
4 Remigius, pt. i, p. 54.
5 Spa/ding Club Misc., i, p. 1 20; Burton, i, p. 252.
6 Pitcairn, ii, pp. 542-3.
7 From an unpublished trial in the Justiciary Court at Edinburgh. The meaning of the word laif is not clear. The Oxford dictionary gives lop-eared, the Scotch dictionary gives loaf. By analogy with the other accounts one would expect here a word meaning a hen.
156 THE RITES
1622 Margaret NcWilliam 'renounced her baptisme and he baptised her and she gave him as a gift a hen or cock '-1 In modern France the sacrifice of a fowl to the Devil still holds good : • Celui qui veut devenir sorcier doit aller a un quatre chemins avec une poule noire, ou bien encore au ciinetiere^ sur une tombe et toujours a mtnuft. II vient alors quelqu'un qui demande : " Que venez vous faire ici ?" " J'ai une poule a vendre," repond-on. Ce quelqu'un [est] le Mechant.'2
It is possible that the custom of burying a live animal to cure disease among farm animals, as well as the charm of casting a live cat into the sea to raise a storm, are forms of the animal sacrifice.
3. Child Sacrifice.— The child-victim was usually a young infant, either a witch's child or unbaptized ; in other words, it did not belong to the Christian community. This last is an important point, and was the reason why unbaptized children were considered to be in greater danger from witches than the baptized. 4 If there be anie children vnbaptised, or not garded with the signe of the crosse, or orizons ; then the witches may or doo catch them from their mothers sides in the night, or out of their cradles, or otherwise kill them with their ceremonies.' A The same author quotes from the French authorities the crimes laid to the charge of witches, among which are the followin : ' They sacrifice their owne children to the diuell before baptisme, holding them vp in the aire vnto him, and then thrust a needle into. their braines'; and ' they burne their children when they haue sacrificed them '.4 Boguet says, ' Les Matrones, & sages femmes sont accoustume d'offrir a Satan les petits enfans qu'elles re9oiuent, & puis les faire mourir auant qu'ils soient baptizez, par le moye dVne grosse espingle qu'elles leur enfoncent dans le cerueau.'5 Boguet's words imply that this was done at every birth at which a witch officiated ; but it is impossible that this should be the case ; the sacrifice was probably made for some special purpose, for which a new-born child was the appropriate victim.
The most detailed account of such sacrifices is given in the trial of the Paris witches (1679-81), whom Madame de
1 Highland Papers^ iii, p. 18. 2 Lemoine, vi, p. 109.
1 Reg. Scot, Bk. Ill, p. 41. « Id., Bk. II, p. 32. ' Boguet, p. 205.
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'57
Montespan consulted. The whole ceremony was performed to the end that the love of Louis XIV should return to Madame de Montespan, at that time his discarded mistress ; it seems to be a kind of fertility rite, hence its use on this occasion. The Abbe Guibourg was the sacrificing priest, and from this and other indications he appears to have been the Chief or Grand-master who, before a less educated tribunal, would have been called the Devil. Both he and the girl Montvoisin were practically agreed as to the rite ; though from the girl's words it would appear that the child was already dead, while Guibourg's evidence implies that it was alive. Both witnesses gave their evidence soberly and gravely and with- out torture. Montvoisin, who was eighteen years old, stated that she had presented l a la messe de Madame de Montespan, par 1'ordre de sa mere, un enfant paraissant ne avant terme, le mit dans un bassin, Guibourg 1'egorgea, versa dans le calice, et consacra le sang avec hostie '. Guibourg's evidence shows that the sacrifice was so far from being uncommon that the assistants were well used to the work, and did all that was required with the utmost celerity :
1 II avait achete un ecu 1'enfant qui fut sacrifie a cette messe qui lui fut presente par une grande fille et ayant tire du sang de 1'enfant qu'il piqua a la gorge avec un canif, il en versa dans le calice, apres quoi 1'enfant fut retire et emporte dans un autre lieu, dont ensuite on lui rapporta le cceur et les entrailles pour en faire une deuxieme [oblation].' l
In Scotland it was firmly believed that sacrifices of children took place 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.1 2 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'.3
1 Ravaisson, p. 334, 335. 2 Sharpe, p. 147. 3 Chambers, iii, p. 450.
158 TH E R IT ES
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 : l 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.' ' 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.'2 Jt 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 murdersof children of which the witches weresometimes accused. The accusations seem to have been substantiated on several occasions, the method of sacrifice being by poison.3
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 who- soeuer drinketh, obseruing certeine ceremonies, immediatelie becommeth a maister or rather a mistresse in that practise and facultie.'* 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 1'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
1 Scot, Bk. Ill, p. 42. ! Sinistrari de Ameno, p. 27.
3 See, amongst others, the account of Mary Johnson (Essex, 1645), who was accused of poisoning two children ; the symptoms suggest belladonna. Howell, iv, 844, 846.
« Scot, Bk. Ill, p. 41.
THE RITES
'59
meslant cette poudre avec ladicte paste, elle a cette vertu de taciturnite : si bien que qui en mange ne confesse iamais.' l At Forfar, in 1661 , Helen Guthrie and four others exhumed the body of an unbaptized infant, which was buried in the church- yard 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.'2 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 awn 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 1'entour du bouc : puis vn chacun luy baisoit le derriere, auec vne chandelle ardente : & cela faict, le bouc se consommoit en feu, & de la cedre chacun en prenoit pour faire mourir le bceuf [etc.]. Et en fin le Diable leurdisoit d'vne voix terrible des mots, Vengez vous ou vous mourrez.'3 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 1'execution de leurs desseins pernicieux & abominables '.4 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 1'assemblee
1 De Lancre, Tableau, p. 128. 2 Kinloch, p. 121.
3 Bodin, Fleau, pp. 187-8. * Boguet, p. 141.
i6o T H E R I T R S
nocturne de Lembeke, ou, apres la danse, elle a, comme tous les assistans, baise un bouc a 1'endroit de sa queue, lequel bouc fut ensuite brule et ses cendres distributes et emportees par les convives.'1 Jeanne de Belloc in 1609 'a veu le Grand maistre de 1'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 '.2 A French witch in 1652 declared that at the Sabbath l le diable s'y at mis en feu et en donne des cendres lesquelles tous faisaient voller en 1'air pour faire mancquer les fruits de la terre'.3 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.4
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 sup- pression of the ancient religion, such practices were represented as evil, and were therefore said to be 4 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 con- tent 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 sacrifices
' Cannaert, p. 50. * De Lancre, Tableau, p. 133.
3 Ln Tradition, 1891, v, p. 215. Neither name nor place are given.
4 Bourignon, Parole, p. 87.
THE RITES 161
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 tne Scotch General Assembly
7«o»
162 THE RITES
has a record : 4 Concerning the matter of the buriaJl 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 vyho 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 them- selvisto the Presbyterie sensible of their miscarriage therein.'1 At Maidstone in 1652 'Anne Ashby, alias Cobler, Anne Marty n, Mary Browne, Anne Wilson, and Mildred Wright of Cranbrook, and Mary Read, of Lenham, being legally con- victed, 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 ; alledg- ing 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.' * The witches themselves also held the belief that they ought to die by fire. Anne Foster was tried for witchcraft at North- ampton 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.' 3
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
Scot. Hist. Soc., xxv, p. 348. See also Ross, Aberdour and Inchcolme, P- 339-
2 Prod, nnd Trag. History, p. 7. * Tryall of Ann Foster, p. 8.
T H E R I T E S 163
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,
1 Haill, hola ! ', and ' Hola ! ' was also the cry when a cat was
cast into the sea to raise a storm.1 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.' 2 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 Maik-
peblis. — \\z 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.'3 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.4 Marie Lament of Innerkip, 1662,
was instructed to call the Devil Serpent when she desired to
speak with him.5
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, 4 O Sathan give me my purpose ', before saying what she wished done.6 The Swedish witches, 1669, called their Chief
1 Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 21 1, 235, 238.
2 De Lancre, L* Incredulity p. 772.
3 Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 120, 124.
« From the record of the trial in the Justiciary Court of Edinburgh. 5 Sharpe, p. 132. 6 Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 137, 164.
L 2
164 T H E R I T E S
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.1
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 TulouflF heard an old witch cry as she bestrode a broomstick, ' Va au nom du diable et luciffer p dessq 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.2 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 '. ' Quei- quefois plus furieuses elles se batent entre elles mesmes, en disant, le suis le Diable, ie n'ay rien qui ne soil a toy, en ton nom Seigneur cette tienneseruante s'oingt, & doisestrequelque 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.' 3 Isobel Gowdie, 1 662, gives two variants of the magic words used on these occasions : the first, 4 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 ! ' 4 The Somerset witches, 1664, when starting to the meeting, said, 'Thout, tout a tout, tout, throughout and about ' ; and when returning, 4 Rentum tormentum '. At parting they cried, ' A Boy ! merry meet, merry part.'7 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
1 Horneck, pt. ii, p. 316.
1 From the record of the trial in the Guernsey Greffe.
s De Lancre, Tableau, pp. 123, 400. « Pitcairn, iii, pp. 604, 608.
8 Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 139, 141. i have pointed out that the cry of ' A Boy ' is possibly the Christian recorder's method of expressing the Bacchic shout 'Evoe '. See Jour. Man. Or. Sof., 1916-17, p. 65.
T H E R I T E S 165
of the host the congregation cried, 4 " 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, louanda, 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 blasphe- mous : ' In nomine patrica, Aragueaco Petrica, Gastellaco lanicot, Equidae ipordian pot,1 ' au nom de Patrique, petrique d'Arragon. lannicot de Castille faictes moy vn baiser au derriere.' l 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.'2 The word diable is clearly Bodin's own interpella- tion 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.;! 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.' 4 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.1
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
1 De Lancre, Tableau, pp. 401, 461, 462, 464. 2 Bodin, p. 190.
3 The names of the smaller islands are often compounded with the name of this deity, e.g. Li-hou, Brecq-hoti, £c.
4 Law, p. 27 note.
i66 THERITES
purpose.1 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 :
k 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 :
1 I sail goe intill ane haire, With sorrow, and sych, and meikle caire ; And I sail 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,
1 I sail goe intill ane catt, With sorrow, and sych, and a blak shot '
or 1 1 sail goe intill a craw,
With sorrow, and sych, and a blak thraw.'
To return into human form the witch said :
1 Haire, haire, God send thee caire. 1 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, how- ever, they met in the open, the formula was slightly different, ' Divell speid the, Goe thow with me,' the result being the same.
1 From a trial in the Guernsey Greffe. 2 Pitcairn, iii, pp. 607-8, 6ll.
T H E R I T E S 167
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, Tie spite thee V
Alexander Elder's grace over meat is probably a corrupt form of some ancient rite :
1 We eat this meat in the Divellis nam, With sorrow, and sych, and meikle shame ; We sail destroy hows and hald ; Both sheip and noat in till the fald. Litle good sail come to the fore Of all the rest of the litle store.' 2
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.' a Agnes Sampson of the same Coven as. Fian confessed 4 that at the time when his Majestic 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
1 Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 137, 139, U8, 149-
2 Pitcairn, iii, p. 612. Sych = sighing, lamentation.
3 Id., i, pt. ii, p. 212.
168 T H E R I T E S
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 scene.1 1 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 —
1 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.1 2
Beigis Todd was concerned in another ' conjuring of cats ', this time at Seaton.
4 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 jet. . . . And thay thaireftir past altogidder, with the Devill, to the irne jet [iron gate] of Seatoun, quhair of new thay tuik ane cat, and drew the samyn nyne tymes throw the said Irne-jett : 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.'3
from Scotland, see Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 218. 2 Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 237. 8 Id., ii, p. 542.