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
Devill entered into his heart, that hee utterly denied all that which
he before avouched; and would saie nothing thereunto, but this, that
what hee had done and sayde before, was onely done and sayde, for fear
of paynes which he had endured'.[151]
He continued steadfast and was executed at the Castle Hill.
The character of Fian is perfectly consistent. Under torture he signed a
confession, which confession might have implicated Bothwell. That night
Bothwell himself, or one of his emissaries, obtained access to the prisoner
and arranged for his escape. The wretched Fian was faced with death either
way; if he retracted his confession, he would die as a criminal by the
hands of the law; if he held to it, he would die as a traitor by the hands
of his comrades. There was no alternative. All that day he 'continued verie
solitarie', calling upon God, but by night he had made his choice and fled.
He apparently escaped without difficulty. The story of his stealing the
keys of his own cell and of the prison door is absurd; the escape was
obviously effected by connivance just as later on Bothwell's own escape was
effected. Fian went back to his own home, where, according to James's
surmise, he had an interview with the Devil (i.e. Bothwell), and there he
tamely waited till the officers of the law came and recaptured him. This
tameness is not in keeping with the rest of his character. A man with
sufficient courage and resource to get out of a strongly guarded prison
would have made good his escape; an easy enough matter in those turbulent
times. Fian then must have been retaken because he wished to be retaken.
For fear of torture and in hope of pardon he signed the first confession,
implicating Bothwell,[152] yet later he endured agonies of torture with the
certainty of death rather than acknowledge one word which might lead to the
discovery that James was bent upon. James's surmise was perhaps more than a
mere guess; it was prompted by his knowledge of the facts. Fian had had an
interview with his Master, whom he believed to be God Incarnate, and like
many a Christian martyr he atoned for the first betrayal by steadfast
courage through cruel torment even to death.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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