The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in AnthropologyMurray, Margaret Alice
Religion
The Witch-cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology
Murray, Margaret Alice
Ethnology; Witchcraft -- Great Britain
At Borrowstowness 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.
'Ye and each person of you was at several meetings with the devil in
the links of Borrowstowness, 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.'[559]
In 1692 Goodwife Foster of Salem gave a rather charming description of the
picnic feast with the Coven from Andover:
'I enquired what she did for Victuals' [at the meeting]; '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.'[560]
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:
'Les liures disent que les sorciers mangent au Sabbat de ce que le
Diable leur a appresté: mais bien souuẽt il ne s'y trouue que des
viandes qu'ils ont porté eux mesmes. Parfois il y a plusieurs tables
seruies de bons viures, & d'autres fois de tres meschans: & à table on
se sied selon sa qualité, ayant chacun son Demon assis auprés, &
parfois vis à vis. Ils benissent leur table inuoquant Beelzebub, & le
tenant pour celui qui leur faict ce bien.'[561]
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.[562] 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.'[563]
Boguet also collected a considerable amount of information from the witches
who fell into his hands:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account