The Witch-cult in Western Europe Part 8

[Footnote 192: _Witches of Chelmsford_, p. 34; Philobiblon Soc., viii.]

[Footnote 193: De Lancre, _L'Incredulite_, p. 805.]

[Footnote 194: Goldsmid, p. 12.]

[Footnote 195: Sinclair, p. 163.]

[Footnote 196: _Scottish Antiquary_, ix, 51.]

[Footnote 197: Pitcairn, iii, p. 601.]

[Footnote 198: Sharpe, p. 132.]

[Footnote 199: _Scots Magazine_, 1814, p. 201. Spelling modernized.]

[Footnote 200: Stewart, p. 175. The whole account is marred by the would-be comic style adopted by the author.]

[Footnote 201: Pinkerton, i, p. 473.]

[Footnote 202: Bodin, p. 187.]

[Footnote 203: Michaelis, _Discourse_, p. 148.]

[Footnote 204: Remigius, pt. i, p. 90.]

[Footnote 205: F. Hutchinson, _Historical Essay_, p. 42.]

[Footnote 206: Boguet, p. 141.]

[Footnote 207: De Lancre, _Tableau_, pp. 67, 68, 69, 126.]

[Footnote 208: Id., _L'Incredulite_, p. 800.]

[Footnote 209: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, p. 125. Cp. Elworthy on the Hobby-horse as the Devil, _Horns of Honour_, p. 140.]

[Footnote 210: _Rehearsall both Straung and True_, par. 24.]

[Footnote 211: Kinloch, pp. 122-3.]

[Footnote 212: Howell, vi, 663-4; J. Hutchinson, ii, pp. 36-7.]

[Footnote 213: Chartier, iii, 44-5.]

[Footnote 214: Boguet, p. 70.]

[Footnote 215: De Lancre, _L'Incredulite_, p. 800.]

[Footnote 216: _Spalding Club Misc._, i, p. 121.]

[Footnote 217: Pitcairn, iii, p. 613.]

[Footnote 218: Taylor, p. 98.]

[Footnote 219: Remigius, p. 98.]

[Footnote 220: Potts, E 3.]

III. ADMISSION CEREMONIES

1. _General_

In the ceremonies for admission, as in all the other ceremonies of the cult, the essentials are the same in every community and country, though the details differ. The two points which are the essence of the ceremony are invariable: the first, that the candidates must join of their own free will and without compulsion; the second, that they devote themselves, body and soul, to the Master and his service.

The ceremonies of admission differed also according to whether the candidate were a child or an adult. The most complete record of the admission of children comes from the Ba.s.ses-Pyrenees in 1609:

'Les Sorcieres luy offr?t des pet.i.ts enfans le genouil en terre, lui disant auec vne soubmission, _Grand seigneur, lequel i'adore, ie vous ameine ce nouueau seruiteur, lequel veut estre perpetuellement vostre esclaue_: Et le Diable en signe de remerciement & gratification leur respond, _Approchez vous de moy_: a quoy obeissant, elles en se trainant a genouil, le luy presentent, & luy receuant l'enfant entre ses bras, le rend a la Sorciere, la remercie, & puis luy recommande d'en auoir soing, leur disant par ce moyen sa troupe s'augmentera. Que si les enfans ayans attainct l'aage de neuf ans, par malheur se vouent au Diable sans estre forcez ny violentez d'aucun Sorcier, ils se prosternent par terre deuant Satan: lequel iettant du feu par les yeux, leur dit, Que demandez vous, voulez vous estre a moy? ils respondent qu'ouy, il leur dict, Venez vous de vostre bonne volonte?

ils respondent qu'ouy, Faictes donc ce que ie veux, & ce que ie fay.

Et alors la grande maistresse & Royne du Sabbat qui leur sert de pedagogue, dict a ce nouueau qui se presente, qu'il die a haute voix, _Ie renie Dieu premierement, puis Iesus Christ son Fils, le S. Esprit, la vierge, les Saincts, la Saincte Croix, le Chresme, le Baptesme, & la Foy que ie tiens, mes Parrain & Marraine, & me remets de tout poinct en ton pouuoir & entre tes mains, ne recognois autre Dieu: si bien que tu es mon Dieu & ie suis ton esclaue_. Apres on luy baille vn c.r.a.paud habille auec son capot ou manteau, puis il commande qu'on l'adore; si bien qu'obeyssans & estants mis a genouil, ils baisent le Diable aupres de l'il gauche, a la poitrine, a la fesse, a la cuisse, & aux parties honteuses, puis leuant la queue ils luy baisent le derriere.'[221]

The novice was then marked by a scratch from a sharp instrument, but was not admitted to the 'high mysteries' till about the age of twenty.[222] As no further ceremonies are mentioned, it may be concluded that the initiation into these mysteries was performed by degrees and without any special rites.

At Lille, about the middle of the seventeenth century, Madame Bourignon founded a home for girls of the lowest cla.s.ses, 'pauvres et mal-originees, la plus part si ignorantes au fait de leur salut qu'elles vivoient comme des betes'.[223] After a few years, in 1661, she discovered that thirty-two of these girls were worshippers of the Devil, and in the habit of going to the Witches' Sabbaths. They 'had all contracted this Mischief before they came into the House'.[224] One of these girls named Bellot, 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'.[225] Another girl of twelve had been in the habit of going to the Sabbath since she also was 'very Young'. As the girls seem to have been genuinely fond of Madame Bourignon, she obtained a considerable amount of information from them.

They told her that all worshippers of the Devil 'are constrained to offer him their Children. When a child thus offered to the Devil by its Parents, comes to the use of Reason, the Devil then demands its Soul, and makes it deny G.o.d and renounce Baptism, and all relating to the Faith, promising Homage and Fealty to the Devil in manner of a Marriage, and instead of a Ring, the Devil gives them a Mark with an iron awl [aleine de fer] in some part of the Body.'[226]

It is also clear that Marguerite Montvoisin[227] in Paris had been instructed in witchcraft from an early age; but as the trial in which she figures was for the attempted poisoning of the king and not for witchcraft, no ceremonies of initiation or admission are recorded.

In Great Britain the ceremonies for the reception of children are not given in any detail, though it was generally acknowledged that the witches dedicated their children to the Devil as soon as born; and from the evidence it appears that in many cases the witches had belonged to that religion all their lives. It was sometimes sufficient evidence against a woman that her mother had been a witch,[228] as it presupposed that she had been brought up as a worshipper of the Devil.

The Anderson children in Renfrewshire were all admitted to the society at an early age.[229] Elizabeth Anderson was only seven when she was first asked to swear fealty to the 'black grim Man.' James Lindsay was under fourteen, and his little brother Thomas was still 'below pupillarity' at the time of the trial, where he declared that he had been bribed, by the promise of a red coat, to serve 'the Gentleman, whom he knew thereafter to be the Devil'.[230] At Forfar in 1661, Jonet Howat was so young that when Isabel Syrie 'presented hir to the divell, the divell said, What shall I do with such a little bairn as she?' He accepted her, however, and she was evidently the pet of the community, the Devil calling her 'his bonny bird'.[231] At Paisley, Annabil Stuart was fourteen when, at her mother's persuasion, she took the vows of fidelity to the Devil.[232]

Elizabeth Frances at Chelmsford (tried in 1556) was about twelve years old when her grandmother first taught her the art of witchcraft.[233] Elizabeth Demdike, the famous Lancashire witch, 'brought vp her owne Children, instructed her Graund-children, and tooke great care and paines to bring them to be Witches'.[234] One of her granddaughters, Jennet Device, was aged nine at the time of the trial.

In Sweden the children were taken regularly to the a.s.semblies,[235] and in America[236] also a child-witch is recorded in the person of Sarah Carrier, aged eight, who had made her vows two years before at her mother's instigation.

The ceremony for the admission of adults who were converts to the witch religion from Christianity follow certain main lines. These are (1) the free consent of the candidate, (2) the explicit denial and rejection of a previous religion, (3) the absolute and entire dedication of body and soul to the service and commands of the new Master and G.o.d.

The ceremonies being more startling and dramatic for adults than for children, they are recorded in Great Britain with the same careful detail as in France, and it is possible to trace the local variations; although in England, as is usual, the ceremonies had lost their significance to a far greater extent than in Scotland, and are described more shortly, probably because they were more curtailed.

The legal aspect of the admission ceremonies is well expressed by Sir George Mackenzie, writing in 1699 on the Scotch laws relating to witchcraft in the seventeenth century:

'As to the relevancy of this Crime, the first Article useth to be _paction_ to serve the Devil, which is certainly relevant, _per se_, without any addition.... Paction with the Devil is divided by Lawyers, in _expressum_, _& tacitum_, an express and tacit Paction. Express Paction is performed either by a formal Promise given to the Devil then present, or by presenting a Supplication to him, or by giving the promise to a Proxie or Commissioner impowered by the Devil for that effect, which is used by some who dare not see himself. The _Formula_ set down by _Delrio_, is, _I deny G.o.d Creator of Heaven and Earth, and I adhere to thee, and believe in thee_. But by the Journal Books it appears, that the ordinary Form of express Paction confest by our Witness, is a simple Promise to serve him. Tacit Paction is either when a person who hath made no express Paction, useth the Words or Signs which Sorcerers use, knowing them to be such.... Renouncing of Baptism is by _Delrio_ made an effect of Paction, yet with us it is relevant, _per se_ ... and the Solemnity confest by our Witches, is the putting one hand to the crown of the Head, and another to the sole of the Foot, renouncing their Baptism in that posture. _Delrio_ tells us, that the Devil useth to Baptize them of new, and to wipe off their Brow the old Baptism: And our Witches confess always the giving them new Names.... The Devil's Mark useth to be a great Article with us, but it is not _per se_ found relevant, except it be confest by them, that they got that Mark with their own consent; _quo casu_, it is equivalent to a Paction. This Mark is given them, as is alledg'd, by a Nip in any part of the body, and it is blew.'[237]

Reginald Scot,[238] writing considerably earlier, gives a somewhat similar account of the English witches, though couched in less legal phraseology: