Witchcraft and Devil Lore in the Channel Islands

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Witchcraft and Devil Lore in the Channel Islands

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Title: Witchcraft and Devil Lore in the Channel Islands
Author: John Linwood Pitts
Release Date: December 2, 2005 [EBook #17203]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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WITCHCRAFT
AND
DEVIL LORE
IN THE
CHANNEL ISLANDS
TRANSCRIPTS FROM THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE GUERNSEY ROYAL COURT, WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.
BY
JOHN LINWOOD PITTS,
_Membre de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie._
_Editor of "The Patois Poems of the Channel Islands;" "The Sermon on the Mount and the Parable of the Sower, in the Franco-Norman Dialects of Guernsey and Sark," &c., &c._
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
--EXODUS xxii, 18.
[Illustration]
Guernsey:
GUILLE-ALLèS LIBRARY,
AND
THOMAS M. BICHARD, PRINTER TO THE STATES.
1886.
[_All Rights Reserved._]

TO
EDGAR MACCULLOCH, ESQUIRE,
F.S.A., LONDON AND NORMANDY, AND MEMBER OF THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY,
BAILIFF OF GUERNSEY,
WHOSE HISTORICAL RESEARCHES HAVE TENDED SO MUCH TO ELUCIDATE THE TIME-HONOURED CONSTITUTION
AND
ANCIENT CUSTOMS OF HIS NATIVE ISLAND,
THIS
BRIEF RECORD OF ONE OF THE DARKEST CHAPTERS IN ITS CHEQUERED ANNALS
Is Dedicated
WITH SENTIMENTS OF THE HIGHEST RESPECT AND ESTEEM.
_Venena magnum fas nefasque non valent Convertere humanam vicem._
HORACE, Epod. V. 87-8.

FOREWORD.
In presenting to the public another little volume of the "Guille-Allès Library Series," it affords me much pleasure to acknowledge various kindnesses experienced during its preparation. From Edgar MacCulloch, Esq., F.S.A., Bailiff of Guernsey, I have received several valuable hints and suggestions bearing upon the subject; and also from F.J. Jérémie, Esq., M.A., Jurat of the Royal Court. I am also particularly indebted to James Gallienne, Esq., Her Majesty's Greffier, for his uniform kindness and courtesy in allowing the fullest access at all times to the Archives under his care, not only in respect to the subject-matter of the present publication, but also in other historical researches which I have wished to make. I am equally obliged to Mr. E.M. Cohu and Mr. H.J.V. Torode, Deputy-Greffiers, and to Mr. A. Isemonger, Bailiff's Clerk, for various information and much ready help, which materially facilitated my investigations. All these gentlemen have my cordial acknowledgments and best thanks.
J.L.P.
Guernsey, December, 1885.
NOTE.--The Seal represented on the title page is that of the Guernsey Bailiwick. It was first granted by Edward I. in the seventh year of his reign (1279), and bears the inscription: S. BALLIVIE INSULE DE GERNEREYE.

CONTENTS.
Page DEDICATION v.
FOREWORD vii.
TABLE OF CONTENTS viii.
INTRODUCTION 1
WITCHCRAFT IN GUERNSEY 1
The Witches' Sabbath 2
The Devil's Ointment 2
Three Women burnt for Heresy in Guernsey 3
WITCHCRAFT IN JERSEY 4
Ordinance of the Royal Court 4
Women Hanged and Burnt *4
Mr. Philippe Le Geyt's Opinion 5
Later Superstitions 5
The Pricking of Witches *5
Sorcerots, or Witches' Spells 6
Torture of Witches in Guernsey *6
" " Scotland 7
GENERAL PERSECUTION OF WITCHES *7
On the Continent *7
In America *7
In England 8
In Scotland 8
CONFESSIONS OF GUERNSEY WITCHES UNDER TORTURE 9
Collette Du Mont 11
Marie Becquet 15
Isabel Becquet 16
DEPOSITIONS AGAINST COLLAS BECQUET 22
NOTE ON THE GUERNSEY RECORDS 27
WITCHCRAFT TRIALS IN GUERNSEY, 1563-1634 28
THE STORY IN BRIEF OF THE GUILLE-ALLèS LIBRARY 33

INTRODUCTION.
The Witchcraft superstitions of the Channel Islands, sad as they were in their characteristics and results--as is abundantly evidenced by our judicial records--were but a part and parcel of that vast wave of unreasoning credulity which swept across the civilised world during the Middle Ages, and more or less affected every class of society, and all sorts and conditions of men. From the lists given in the following pages (pp. 28-32), it will be seen that in about seventy-one years, during the reigns of Elizabeth, James I. and Charles I., no fewer than seventy-eight persons--fifty-eight of them being women, and twenty of them men--were brought to trial for Sorcery in Guernsey alone. Out of these unfortunate victims, three women and one man appear to have been burnt alive; twenty-four women and four men were hanged first and burnt afterwards; one woman was hanged for returning to the island after being banished; three women and one man were whipped and had each an ear cut off; twenty-two women and five men were banished from the island; while five women and three men had the good fortune to be acquitted. Most of these accused persons were natives of Guernsey, but mention is made of one woman from Jersey, of three men and a woman from Sark, and of a man from Alderney.
With regard to the gatherings at the so-called Witches' Sabbaths, there can be no doubt that--quite apart from the question of any diabolic presence at such