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
Lady Alice Kyteler, in 1324, was accused that the Devil came to her
'quandoque in specie cujusdam aethiopis cum duobus sociis'.[885] In 1598
the Lyons witches, Thievenne Paget and Antoine Tornier, speak of 'leurs
Demons' as distinct from the great Devil, and the evidence of all the other
witches shows that 'il y a encor des Demons, qui assistent à ces
danses'.[886] De Lancre says that there was more than one Devil: the great
one, who was called Maître Leonard, and a little one called Maître Jean
Mullin. It was this smaller Devil who held the meetings in the absence of
the Chief:
'en la place du Grãd maistre, il n'y auoit qu'vn petit Diable ou Demon
qui n'auoit point de cornes, lequel ne contentoit pas la compagnie
comme son maistre. Qu'elles n'auoient tant de confiance en toute la
trouppe des mauuais Anges qu'en celuy seul qu'ils auoient accoustumé
d'adorer & seruir.—À table on se sied selon sa qualité, ayant chacun
son Demon assis auprés, & parfois vis à vis. Et quand ils ont mangé,
chaque Demon prèd sa disciple par la main, & danse auec elle.'[887]
In 1618 Joan Willimott of Leicester confessed 'that shee hath a Spirit
which shee calleth Pretty, which was giuen vnto her by William Berry, whom
she serued three yeares; the Spirit stood vpon the ground in the shape and
forme of a Woman, which Spirit did aske of her her Soule, which shee then
promised vnto it, being willed thereunto by her Master'.[888] In 1633,
Margaret Johnson, the Lancashire witch, stated that 'besides theire
particular familiars or spirits, there was one greate or grand devill, or
spirit, more eminent than the rest. Shee allsoe saith, yt if a witch have
but one marke, shee hath but one spirit; if two, then two spirits; if
three, yet but two spirits. Shee alsoe saith, that men witches usually have
women spirits, and women witches men spirits.'[889] In 1649 at St. Albans a
man witch had 'two familiars, the one in the form of a dog, which he called
George, and the other in the likeness of a woman, called Jezebell'.[890] In
1662 at Auldearne Issobell Gowdie confessed
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