The Witch-cult in Western Europe Part 25

Since the days of Reginald Scot it has been the fashion of all those writers who disbelieved in the magical powers of witches to point to the details of the s.e.xual intercourse between the Devil and the witches as proof positive of hysteria and hallucination. This is not the att.i.tude of mind of the recorders who heard the evidence at the trials. 'Les confessions des Sorciers, que i'ay eu en main, me font croire qu'il en est quelque chose: dautant qu'ils out tous recogneu, qu'ils auoient este couplez auec le Diable, et que la s.e.m.e.nce qu'il iettoit estoit fort froide; Ce qui est conforme a ce qu'en rapporte Paul Grilland, et les Inquisiteurs de la foy.'[688] 'It pleaseth their new Maister oftentimes to offer himselfe familiarly vnto them, to dally and lye with them, in token of their more neere coniunction, and as it were marriage vnto him.'[689]

'_Witches_ confessing, so frequently as they do, that the Devil _lies with them_, and withal complaining of his tedious and offensive _coldness_, it is a shrewd presumption that he doth lie with them _indeed_, and that it is not a meer _Dream_.'[690]

It is this statement of the physical coldness of the Devil which modern writers adduce to prove their contention that the witches suffered from hallucination. I have shown above (pp. 61 seq.) that the Devil was often masked and his whole person covered with a disguise, which accounts for part of the evidence but not for all, and certainly not for the most important item. For in trial after trial, in places far removed from one another and at periods more than a century apart, the same fact is vouched for with just the small variation of detail which shows the actuality of the event. This is that, when the woman admitted having had s.e.xual intercourse with the Devil, in a large proportion of cases she added, 'The Devil was cold and his seed likewise.' These were women of every cla.s.s and every age, from just above p.u.b.erty to old women of over seventy, unmarried, married, and widows. It is unscientific to disbelieve everything, as Scot does, and it is equally unscientific to label all the phenomena as the imagination of hysterical women. By the nature of things the whole of this evidence rests only on the word of the women, but I have shown above (pp.

63-5) that there were cases in which the men found the Devil cold, and cases in which the women found other parts of the Devil's person to be cold also. Such a ma.s.s of evidence cannot be ignored, and in any other subject would obtain credence at once. But the hallucination-theory, being the easiest, appears to have obsessed the minds of many writers, to the exclusion of any attempt at explanation from an unbia.s.sed point of view.

Students of comparative and primitive religion have explained the custom of sacred marriages as an attempt to influence the course of nature by magic, the people who practise the rite believing that thereby all crops and herds as well as the women were rendered fertile, and that barrenness was averted. This accounts very well for the occurrence of 'obscene rites'

among the witches, but fails when it touches the question of the Devil's coldness. I offer here an explanation which I believe to be the true one, for it accounts for all the facts; those facts which the women confessed voluntarily and without torture or fear of punishment, like Isobel Gowdie, or adhered to as the truth even at the stake amid the flames, like Jane Bosdeau.

In ancient times the Sacred Marriage took place usually once a year; but besides this ceremony there were other s.e.xual rites which were not celebrated at a fixed season, but might be performed in the precincts of the temple of a G.o.d or G.o.ddess at any time, the males being often the priests or temple officials. These are established facts, and it is not too much to suppose that the witches' ceremonies were similar. But if the women believed that s.e.xual intercourse with the priests would increase fertility, how much more would they believe in the efficacy of such intercourse with the incarnate G.o.d of fertility himself. They would insist upon it as their right, and it probably became compulsory at certain seasons, such as the breeding periods of the herds or the sowing and reaping periods of the crops. Yet as the population and therefore the number of worshippers in each 'congregation' increased, it would become increasingly difficult and finally impossible for one man to comply with the requirements of so many women.[691] The problem then was that on the one hand there were a number of women demanding what was in their eyes a thing essential for themselves and their families, and on the other a man physically unable to satisfy all the calls upon him. The obvious solution of the problem is that the intercourse between the Chief and the women was by artificial means, and the evidence in the trials points clearly to this solution.

Artificial phalli are well known in the remains of ancient civilizations.

In ancient Egypt it was not uncommon to have statues of which the phallus was of a different material from the figure, and so made that it could be removed from its place and carried in procession. The earliest of such statues are the colossal limestone figures of the fertility-G.o.d Min found at Koptos, dating to the first dynasty, perhaps B.C. 5500.[692] But similar figures are found at every period of Egyptian history, and a legend was current at the time of Plutarch to account for this usage as well as for the festival of the Phallephoria.[693] Unless the phallus itself were the object of adoration there would be no reason to carry it in procession as a religious ceremony, and it is easily understandable that such a cult would commend itself chiefly to women.[694]

The phallus of a divine statue was not always merely for adoration and carrying in procession; the Roman bride sacrificed her virginity to the G.o.d Priapus as a sacred rite. This is probably the remains of a still more ancient custom when the G.o.d was personated by a man and not by an image.

The same custom remained in other parts of the world as the _jus primae noctis_, which was held as an inalienable right by certain kings and other divine personages. As might be expected, this custom obtained also among the witches.

'Le Diable faict des mariages au Sabbat entre les Sorciers & Sorcieres, & leur joignant les mains, il leur dict hautement

Esta es buena parati Esta parati lo toma.

Mais auant qu'ils couchent ensemble, il s'accouple auec elles, oste la virginite des filles.'-Ieannette d'Abadie, aged sixteen, 's'accusoit elle mesme d'auoir este depucellee par Satan.'[695]

The occasional descriptions of the Devil's phallus show without question its artificial character:

In 1598 in Lorraine 'es sagte die Alexia Dragaea, ihre Bulschafft hatte einen [Glied] so starcken etc. allezeit gehabt, wenn ihm gestanden, und so gross als ein Ofengabel-Stiel, dessgleichen sie zugegen zeigte, denn ohngefehr eine Gabel zugegen war, sagte auch wie sie kein Geleuth weder Hoden noch Beutel daran gemerckt hat'.[696]

'Iaquema Paget adioustoit, qu'elle auoit empoigne plusieurs fois auec la main le membre du Demon, qui la cognoissoit, et que le membre estoit froid comme glace, long d'vn bon doigt, & moindre en grosseur que celuy d'vn homme. Tieuenne Paget et Antoine Tornier adioustoient aussi, que le membre de leurs Demons estoit long et gros, comme l'vn de leurs doigts.'[697] 'Il a au deuant son membre tire et pendant, & le monstre tousiours long d'vn coudee.-Le membre du Demon est faict a escailles comme vn poisson.-Le membre du Diable s'il estoit estendu est long enuiron d'vne aulne, mais il le tient entortille et sinueux en forme de serpent.-Le Diable, soit qu'il ayt la forme d'homme, ou qu'il soit en forme de Bouc, a tousiours vn membre de mulet, ayant choisy en imitation celuy de cet animal comme le mieux pourueu. Il l'a long et gros comme le bras.-Le membre du Diable est long enuiron la moitie d'vne aulne, de mediocre grosseur, rouge, obscur, & tortu, fort rude & comme piquant.-Ce mauuais Demon ait son membre myparty, moitie de fer, moitie de chair tout de son long, & de mesme les genitoires.

Il tient tousiours son membre dehors.-Le Diable a le membre faict de corne, ou pour le moins il en a l'apparence: c'est pourquoy il faict tant crier les femmes.-Jeannette d'Abadie dit qu'elle n'a iamais senty, qu'il eust aucune s.e.m.e.nce, sauf quand il la depucella qu'elle la sent.i.t froide, mais que celle des autres hommes qui l'ont cognue, est naturelle.'[698]

Sylvine de la Plaine, 1616, confessed 'qu'il a le membre faict comme vn cheual, en entrant est froid comme glace, iette la s.e.m.e.nce fort froide, & en sortant la brusle comme si c'estoit du feu'.[699] In 1662 Isobel Gowdie said, 'His memberis ar exceiding great and long; no man's memberis ar so long & bigg as they ar.'[700]

The artificial phallus will account as nothing else can for the pain suffered by many of the women; and that they suffered voluntarily, and even gladly, can only be understood by realizing that they endured it for motives other than physical satisfaction and pleasure. 'There appeared a great _Black Goat_ with a _Candle_ between his Horns.... He had carnal knowledge of her which was with great pain.'[701] 'Presque toutes les Sorcieres rapportent que cet accouplement leur est le plus souuent des-agreable, tant pour la laideur & deformite de Satan, que pour ce qu'elles y ont vne extreme douleur.[702] 'Elle fuyoit l'accouplement du Diable, a cause qu'ayant son membre faict en escailles il fait souffrir vne extresme douleur.'[703] At the Sabbath in the Ba.s.ses-Pyrenees, the Devil took the women behind some sort of screen, and the children 'les oyent crier comme personnes qui souffrent vne grande douleur, et ils les voyent aussi tost reuenir au Sabbat toutes sanglantes'.[704] As regards brides, 'En cet accouplement il leur faict perdre vne infinite de sang, et leur faict souffrir mille douleurs.'[705] Widow Bush of Barton said that the Devil, who came to her as a young black man, 'was colder than man, and heavier, and could not performe nature as man.'[706]

The physical coldness of the Devil is vouched for in all parts of Europe.[707]

'Toutes les Sorcieres s'accordent en cela, que la s.e.m.e.nce, qu'elles recoiuent du Diable, est froide comme glace: Spranger & les Inquisiteurs, qui en ont veu vne infinite, l'escriuent ainsi. Remy, qui a fait le procez a plus de deux milles Sorciers, en porte vn tesmoignage irrefragable. Ie puis a.s.seurer au semblable, que celles, qui me sont pa.s.sees par les mains, en ont confesse tout autant. Que si la s.e.m.e.nce est ainsi froide, il s'ensuit qu'elle est dest.i.tuee de ses esprits vitaux, & ainsi qu'elle ne peut estre cause d'aucune generation.'[708]

Isobel Gowdie and Janet Breadheid of Auldearne both said that the Devil was 'a meikle, blak, roch man, werie cold; and I fand his nature als cold within me as spring-well-water'. Isobel continues, 'He is abler for ws that way than any man can be, onlie he ves heavie lyk a malt-sek; a hudg nature, verie cold, as yce.'[709]

Another point which goes to prove that the intercourse was by artificial means was that pregnancy did not follow, except by special consent of the woman. Jeannette d'Abadie, aged sixteen, said, 'Elle fuyoit l'accouplement du Diable, a cause qu'ayant son membre faict en escailles il fait souffrir vne extresme douleur; outre que la s.e.m.e.nce est extresmement froide, si bien qu'elle n'engrosse iamais, ni celle des autres hommes au sabbat, bien qu'elle soit naturelle.'[710] Boguet remarks, 'Il me souuient, qu'Antoinette Tornier, & Antoinette Gandillon, estans interroguees, si elles craignoient point de deuenir enceintes des uures du Diable; l'vne respondit qu'elle estoit trop vieille; l'autre que Dieu ne le vouloit pas permettre.'[711] According to Jeanne Hervillier, the Devil 'coucha auec elle charnellement, en la mesme sorte & maniere que font les hommes auec les femmes, horsmis que la s.e.m.e.nce estoit froide. Cele dit elle continua tous les huict ou quinze iours.... Et vn iour le diable luy demanda, si elle vouloit estre enceinte de luy, ce qu'elle ne voulut pas.'[712] But when the witch was willing to have a child, it is noticeable that there is then no complaint of the Devil's coldness. At Maidstone in 1652 'Anne Ashby, Anne Martyn, and one other of their a.s.sociates, pleaded that they were with child pregnant, but confessed it was not by any man, but by the Divell.... Anne Ashby and Anne Martyn confessed that the Divell had known them carnally, and that they had no hurt by it.'[713]

The Devil appears to have donned or doffed his disguise in the presence of his worshippers, and this was often the case at the time of the s.e.xual rites, whether public or private:

'Il cognoist les Sorcieres tantost en forme d'homme tout noir, & tantost en forme de beste, comme d'vn chien, d'vn chat, d'vn bouc, d'vn mouton. Il cognoissoit Thieuenne Paget, & Antoine Tornier en forme d'vn homme noir: Et lors qu'il accouploit auec Iaquema Paget, & Antoine Gandillon, il prenoit la figure d'vn mouton noir, portant des cornes. Francoise Secretain a dit que son Demon se mettoit tantost en chien, tantost en chat, et tantost en poule, quand il la vouloit cognoistre charnellement. Or tout cecy me fait de tant mieux a.s.seurer l'accouplement reel du Sorcier, & de la Sorciere auec le Demon.'[714]

In the Ba.s.ses-Pyrenees Marie d'Aspilcouette 'disoit le mesme, pour ce qui est du membre en escailles, mais elle deposoit, que lors qu'il les vouloit cognoistre, il quitoit la forme de Bouc, & prenoit celle d'homme.'[715] 'Il entra dans sa chambre en forme d'ung chat et se changea en la posture d'un home vestu de rouge.'[716] At an attempt to wreck a ship in a great storm 'the devil was there present with them all, in the shape of a great horse.... They returned all in the same likeness as of before, except that the devil was in the shape of a man.'[717] 'The Deivill apeired vnto her, in the liknes of ane prettie boy in grein clothes.... And at that tyme the Deivil gaive hir his markis; and went away from her in the liknes of ane blak doug.'[718] 'He wold haw carnall dealling with ws in the shap of a deir, or in any vther shap, now and then. Somtym he vold be lyk a stirk, a bull, a deir, a rae, or a dowg, etc., and haw dealling with ws.'[719] 'Yow the said Margaret Hamilton, relict of James Pullwart ... had carnall cowpulatiown with the devil in the lyknes of ane man, bot he removed from yow in the lyknes of ane black dowg.'[720] The most important instance is in Boguet's description of the religious ceremony at the Sabbath: 'Finalement Satan apres auoir prins la figure d'vn Bouc, se consume en feu, & reduit en cendre.'[721]

The witches' habit of speaking of every person of the other s.e.x with whom they had s.e.xual intercourse at the Sabbath as a 'devil' has led to much confusion in the accounts. The confusion has been accentuated by the fact that both male and female witches often used a disguise, or were at least veiled. 'Et pource que les hommes ne cedent guieres aux femmes en lubricite, c'est pourquoy le Demon se met aussi en femme ou Succube.... Ce qu'il fait princ.i.p.alement au Sabbat, selon que l'ont rapporte Pierre Gandillon, & George Gandillon, pere & fils, & les autres, lesquels disent tout vnanimement, qu'en leurs a.s.semblees il y a plusieurs Demons, & que les vns exercent le mestier de l'homme pour les femmes, & les autres le mestier des femmes pour les hommes.'[722] 'The Incubus's in the shapes of proper men satisfy the desires of the Witches, and the Succubus's serve for Wh.o.r.es to the Wizards.'[723] Margaret Johnson said the same: 'Their spirittes vsuallie have knowledge of theire bodies.... Shee also saith, that men Witches usualie have woemen spirittes and woemen witches men spirittes.'[724] The girls under Madame Bourignon's charge 'declared that they had daily carnal Cohabitation with the Devil; that they went to the Sabbaths or Meetings, where they Eat, Drank, Danc'd, and committed other Wh.o.r.edom and Sensualities. Every one had her Devil in form of a Man; and the Men had their Devils in the form of a Woman.... They had not the least design of changing, to quit these abominable Pleasures, as one of them of Twenty-two Years old one day told me. _No_, said she, _I will not be other than I am; I find too much content in my Condition; I am always Caressed._'[725] One girl of twelve said definitely that she knew the Devil very well, 'that he was a Boy a little bigger than her self; and that he was her Love, and lay with her every Night'; and another girl named Bellot, aged fifteen, 'said her Mother had taken her with her [to the Sabbath] when she was very Young, and that being a little Wench, this Man-Devil was then a little Boy too, and grew up as she did, having been always her Love, and Caressed her Day and Night.'[726] Such connexions sometimes resulted in marriage. Gaule mentions this fact in his general account: 'Oft times he marries them ere they part, either to himselfe, or their Familiar, or to one another; and that by the Book of Common Prayer (as a pretender to witchfinding lately told me in the Audience of many).'[727] This statement is borne out in the trials: 'Agnes Theobalda sagte, sie sey selbst zugegen auff der Hochzeit gewesen, da Cathalina und Engel von Hudlingen, ihren Beelzebub zur Ehe genommen haben.'[728] The Devil of Isobel Ramsay's Coven was clearly her husband,[729] but there is nothing to show whether the marriage took place before she became a witch, as in the case of Janet Breadheid of Auldearne, whose husband 'enticed her into that craft'.[730] I have quoted above (p. 179) the ceremony at the marriage of witches in the Ba.s.ses-Pyrenees. Rebecca Weste, daughter of a witch, married the Devil by what may be a primitive rite; he came to her 'as shee was going to bed, and told her, he would marry her, and that shee could not deny him; shee said he kissed her, but was as cold as clay, and married her that night, in this manner; he tooke her by the hand and lead her about the chamber, and promised to be her loving husband till death, and to avenge her of her enemies; and that then shee promised him to be his obedient wife till death, and to deny G.o.d, and Christ Jesus.'[731] At Edinburgh in 1658 a young woman called Anderson was tried: 'her confessioun was, that scho did marry the devill.'[732] The Swedish witches in 1670 confessed that at Blockula 'the Devil had Sons and Daughters which he did marry together'.[733] Giraldus Cambrensis gives an account of a 'spirit' in the form of a red-haired young man, called Simon, who 'was begotten upon the wife of a rustic in that parish, by a demon, in the shape of her husband, naming the man, and his father-in-law, then dead, and his mother, still alive; the truth of which the woman upon examination openly avowed'.[734]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 664: Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 206; Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 301.]

[Footnote 665: Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 207.]

[Footnote 666: J. G. Campbell, pp. 293-4. The book was in ma.n.u.script, and when last heard of was in the possession of the now-extinct Stewarts of Invernahyle.]

[Footnote 667: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, p. 143.]

[Footnote 668: Pitcairn, iii, p. 603. 'Toads did draw the plough as oxen, couch-gra.s.s was the harness and trace-chains, a gelded animal's horn was the coulter, and a piece of a gelded animal's horn was the sock.']

[Footnote 669: Ravaisson, 1679-81, p. 336.]

[Footnote 670: Burns Begg, p. 224.]

[Footnote 671: Reg. Scot, Bk. III, p. 60.]

[Footnote 672: Id., Bk. III, p. 60.]

[Footnote 673: More, p. 168.]

[Footnote 674: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, p. 93.]

[Footnote 675: Boguet, p. 211.]

[Footnote 676: R. Scot, p. 77.]

[Footnote 677: Bodin, pp. 125-7.]

[Footnote 678: Bourignon, _Vie_, pp. 222-3; Hale, pp. 37-8.]

[Footnote 679: Glanvil, pt. ii, p. 301.]

[Footnote 680: Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, p. 206.]

[Footnote 681: Bodin, p. 465.]

[Footnote 682: Id., p. 465. The trial was in 1545, Magdalene being then forty-two. See also _Pleasant Treatise_, p. 6.]

[Footnote 683: Id., p. 227.]

[Footnote 684: De Lancre, _Tableau_, p. 183.]

[Footnote 685: De Lancre, _Tableau_, pp. 145, 398.]

[Footnote 686: Kinloch, p. 124.]

[Footnote 687: Arnot, p. 360.]