Witchcraft and Devil Lore in the Channel Islands | Page 3

women were felons
and were executed for theft, while other apologists have described them
as prostitutes and generally infamous in character. The original
sentences, however, which still exist at the Guernsey Greffe, and which
I have examined, conclusively settle the question. Both the
ecclesiastical sentence, which is in Latin, and the civil sentence, which
is in French, distinctly describe the charge as one of heresy, and make
no mention whatever of any other crime as having aught to do with the
condemnation.
It has been questioned too whether a child could be born alive under

such circumstances. Mr. F.B. Tupper, in his History of Guernsey (page
151), says: "We are assured by competent surgical authority that the
case is very possible"; and he further mentions that in a volume entitled
Three Visits to Madagascar, by the Rev. Wm. Ellis, published in
London, in 1858, a precisely similar case is stated to have occurred in
that island. A native woman was burnt for becoming a convert to
Christianity, and her infant, born in the flames, was thrust into them
again, and burnt also.
Lord Tennyson refers to this Guernsey martyrdom in his historical
drama of Queen Mary (Act v. Scene iv.). It is night-time in London; a
light is burning in the Royal Palace; and he makes two "Voices of the
Night" say:--
_First_:--There's the Queen's light. I hear she cannot live.
_Second_:--God curse her and her Legate! Gardiner burns Already; but
to pay them full in kind, The hottest hold in all the devil's den Were but
a sort of winter; Sir, in Guernsey, I watch'd a woman burn; and in her
agony The mother came upon her--a child was born-- And, Sir, they
hurl'd it back into the fire, That, being thus baptised in fire, the babe
Might be in fire for ever. Ah, good neighbour, There should be
something fierier than fire To yield them their deserts.
With regard to Witchcraft in Jersey, I have not had an opportunity of
personally examining the official records there. I find, however, some
information on the subject, given by M. De La Croix, in his _Ville de
St. Hélier_, and Les Etats de Jersey, upon which I have drawn. In the
way of legislation, the Guernsey Court does not appear to have
promulgated any penal statutes on the subject, being content to treat the
crime as one against the common law of the Island. In Jersey on the
contrary, Witchcraft was specially legislated against at least on one
occasion, for we find that on December 23rd, 1591, the Royal Court of
that island passed an Ordinance, of which the following is the
purport:--
Forasmuch as many persons have hitherto committed and perpetrated
great and grievous faults, as well against the honour and express

commandment of God as to the great scandal of the Christian faith, and
of those who are charged with the administration of justice, by seeking
assistance from Witches and Diviners in their ills and afflictions; and
seeing that ignorance is no excuse for sin, and that no one can tell what
vice and danger may ensue from such practices: This Act declares that
for the time to come everyone shall turn away from such iniquitous and
diabolical practices, against which the law of God decrees the same
punishments as against Witches and Enchanters themselves; and also in
order that the Divine Vengeance may be averted, which on account of
the impunity with which these crimes have been committed, now
threatens those who have the repression of them in their hands. It is,
therefore, strictly forbidden to all the inhabitants of this island to
receive any counsel or assistance in their adversities from any Witches
or Diviners, or anyone suspected of practicing Sorcery, under pain of
one month's imprisonment in the Castle, on bread and water; and on
their liberation they shall declare to the Court the cause of such
presumption, and according as this shall appear reasonable, shall be
dealt with as the law of God directs.
In 1562 two women were executed in Jersey for witchcraft. One of
them named Anne, a native of St. Brelade's, was burnt at St. Helier's;
and the other, Michelle La Blanche, expiated her crime at the gibbet of
the Hurets, in the parish of St. Ouen, because criminals dwelling on the
Fief Haubert de St. Ouen, were, in accordance with custom, required to
be executed within the boundaries of the said Fief--seeing that it
possessed a gallows-right--and their goods and lands became forfeited
to the Seigneur.
In 1583 a rather curious point of law was raised in connection with a
pending witch-trial at St. Helier's. On the 15th of February in that year,
a suspected witch named Marion Corbel, who had been imprisoned in
the Castle awaiting her trial, suddenly died. Whereupon her