Of all the extraordinary popular delusions that have existed, the wave of belief in witchcraft which flowed over this land in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is one of the most remarkable. The belief that some people have the power of exercising supernatural control over their fellow-creatures is not confined to any land, and dates from remote antiquity. But it is with the witches of Britain, and those of the Britons who emigrated from their country, that it is my province to deal.

The earliest English pictorial representation of a witch that I know of is in the Harleian MSS., 1776 (94, b), where the witch of Endor is represented as showing the ghost of Samuel to Saul. But she was a Pythoness, and did not at all come up to our idea of a witch. Nor can we exactly class in the same category the ‘Mulier Malefica’ of Berkeley, who is supposed to have been exhumed by the Devil about A.D. 852. She has been immortalized by William of Malmesbury, who says he had the story from an eye-witness, by Matthew of Westminster, by Schedel in the Nuremberg Chronicle, from whom this illustration is taken, and a short account of her is given by Olaus Magnus in his ‘Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus’ (lib. iii., c. 21), when he treats of the punishment of witches. Berkeley, however, in his hands becomes Bethelia. Southey also wrote about her.

THE OLD WOMAN OF BERKELEY.

A BALLAD, SHEWING HOW AN OLD WOMAN RODE DOUBLE, AND WHO RODE BEFORE HER.

William of Malmesbury thus gives the story: ‘(A.D. 1065) There resided at Berkeley, a woman addicted to Witchcraft, as it afterwards appeared, and skilled in ancient augury: she was excessively gluttonous, perfectly lascivious, and setting no bounds to her debaucheries, as she was not old, though fast declining in life. On a certain day, as she was regaling, a jackdaw, which was a very great favourite, chattered a little more loudly than usual. On hearing which, the woman’s knife fell from her hand, her countenance grew pale, and, deeply groaning, “This day,” said she, “my plough has completed its last furrow; to-day, I shall hear of, and suffer, some dreadful calamity.”

‘While yet speaking, the messenger of her misfortunes arrived: and, being asked why he approached with so distressed an air, “I bring news,” said he, “of the death of your son, and of the whole family, by a sudden accident.” At this intelligence the woman, sorely afflicted, immediately took to her bed, and, perceiving the disorder rapidly approaching her vitals, she summoned her surviving children, a monk and a nun, by hasty letters; and, when they arrived, with faltering voice, addressed them thus: “Formerly, my children, I constantly administered to my wretched circumstances by demoniacal arts: I have been the sink of every vice, the teacher of every allurement: yet, while practising these crimes, I was accustomed to soothe my hapless soul with the hope of your piety. Despairing of myself, I rested my expectations on you: I advanced you as my defenders against evil spirits, my safeguards against my strongest foes. Now, since I have approached the end of my life, and shall have those eager to punish, who lured me to sin, I entreat you, by your mother’s breast, if you have any regard, any affection, at least to endeavour to alleviate my torments; and, although you cannot revoke the sentence already passed upon my soul, yet you may, perhaps, rescue my body by these means.

‘“Sew up my Corpse in the skin of a stag; lay it on its back in a stone Coffin; fasten down the lid with lead and iron; on this lay a stone, bound round with three iron chains of enormous weight; let there be psalms sung for fifty nights, and masses said for an equal number of days, to allay the ferocious attacks of my adversaries. If I lie thus secure for three nights; on the fourth day, bury your mother in the ground; although, I fear, lest the earth, which has been so often burdened with my crimes, should refuse to receive and cherish me in her bosom.”

‘They did their utmost to comply with her injunctions: but, alas! vain were pious tears, vows, or entreaties; so great was the woman’s guilt, so great the devil’s violence. For, on the two first nights, while the choir of priests was singing psalms around the body, the devils, one by one, with the utmost ease bursting open the door of the Church, though closed with an immense bolt, broke asunder the two outer chains: the middle one, being more laboriously wrought, remained entire. On the third night, about cock-crow, the whole monastery seemed to be overthrown from its very foundation, by the clamour of the approaching enemy.

‘One devil, more terrible in appearance than the rest, and of loftier stature, broke the gates to shivers by the violence of his attack. The priests grew motionless with fear, their hair stood on end, and they became speechless. He proceeded, as it appeared, with haughty steps, towards the Coffin; and, calling on the woman by name, commanded her to rise. She, replying that she could not, on account of the chains: “You shall be loosed,” said he, “and to your cost;” and, directly, he broke the chain, which had mocked the ferocity of the others, with as little exertion as though it had been made of flax. He also beat down the cover of the Coffin with his foot; and, taking her by the hand, before them all, he dragged her out of the church.

‘At the doors appeared a black horse, proudly neighing, with iron hooks projecting over his whole back; on which the wretched creature was placed, and, immediately, with the whole party vanished from the eyes of the beholders: her pitiable cries for assistance being heard for nearly the space of four miles.’

The Northern witches came nearer to our modern ones, and seem, if we can believe Olaus Magnus, to have been very powerful.[23]

‘OF WOMAN WITCHES.

‘I shall shew you by a few Examples, how cunning some Women were formerly amongst the Northern people in Magical Art. Hugbert, Daughter to Vagnostus the Giant, was wont to change her stature at pleasure; sometimes she was very great; sometimes less; sometimes exceeding small; sometimes wither’d faced; sometimes beautiful: sometimes she was as tall as the sky; sometimes so short as a Pygmy; and she was supposed to be able to pull down the Heavens, to lift up the Earth; to harden Fountains, to melt Mountains; to lift ships into the Ayr; to pull down the Gods; to extinguish the Stars, and to make Hell a light place.‘When Hadingus the King was at Supper, another Woman of the same Art, who carried pipes, was seen to lift up her head above the ground before the fire; and stretching out her bosome, she seemed to ask in what part of the World so new green Reeds grew; the King, that desired to know the matter, was carryed by her under ground, wrapt in his own Cloak: and, having shewn unto him the Monsters of the Infernal Regions, she restored him back to the Earth again.

‘Cvaca, a Woman of Norway, that desired to know the future fortune of her Son Rollerus, provided Water-grewel, and into this, she dropt the venemous moysture of three Land-Snakes, that were hung up above by a small Twig. But Ericus, son in law to Cvaca took to himself the Dish that was provided for her son Rollerus, and he, being refreshed with this happy meat, by the internal operation of it, arrived to the highest pitch of man’s wisdome. For the force of this meat bred in him the Knowledge of all Sciences beyond belief; so that he could understand the meaning of the cryes of Birds and Wild Beasts. Besides, he was so eloquent and curious in his speech, that whatsoever he pleased to discourse of, he would constantly illustrate it with pleasant Proverbs. By his counsel King Frotho overcame the Army of the mighty Huns, that was assisted by 170 Kings. And, at length, Gestilblindus, King of the Goths, made this Ericus heir to himself, and to the Kingdome of Sweden; and that about the time of Christ’s Nativity.

‘But King Frotho, being lunged at by a Witch that turned into an Oxe, was slain by her upon a certain Sea-coast. Guthruna suddenly blinded the forces of King Larmericus, and made them fight one against another. An earthen pot useth to be the common Instrument of Witches, wherein they boyl their Myces, Herbs, Worms, and Entrals, and by that Witchery meat, they allure idle persons to them, and make ships, horses, and horsemen, to be as swift as a boyling pot.’

‘OF THE CONJURERS AND WITCHES IN FINLAND.

‘Also, I shall show very briefly what force Conjurers and Witches have in constraining the elements, enchanted by them or others, that they may exceed or fall short of their Natural Order: premising this, that the extream land of the North Finland and Lapland, was so taught Witchcraft formerly in the Heathenish times, as if they had learned this Cursed Art from Zoroastes the Persian; though other inhabitants by the Sea Coasts are reported to be bewitched with the same madness; and in this, and other such-like mischief, they commonly agree. The Finlanders[24] were wont formerly, amongst their other Errors of Gentil issue, to sell Winds to Merchants that were stopt on their Coasts by contrary weather; and, when they had their price, they knit three Magical Knots, not like to the Laws of Cassius, bound up with a Thong, and they gave them unto the Merchants; observing that rule, that when they unloosed the first, they should have a good gale of wind; when the second, a stronger wind; but, when they untied the third, they should have such cruel Tempests, that they should not be able to look out of the Forecastle, to avoid the Rocks, nor move a foot to pull down the Sails, nor stand at the helm to govern the ship: and they made an unhappy trial of the truth of it, who denied that there was any such power in those knots.’[25]

OF THE MAGICAL INSTRUMENTS OF BOTHNIA.

‘They that desire to know the state of their Frends or Foes, at a very great distance from them, five hundred be it, or a thousand miles off, they enquire of a Laplander or Finlander, who is skilled in this matter, giving him a gift (namely, some Linnen Garment, or Girdle;) Whereupon he goes into his Conclave, content with one companion, or his wife, and he beats upon a frog of brass, or Serpent, with a hammer upon an anvil, so many strokes as are prescribed; and, by mumbling of charms he turns it up and down; and, presently falling, he is ravished into an extasie, and he lies a short time, as if he were dead. In the meanwhile he is safely guarded by his fore said Companion, lest any Living Creature, Gnat or Fly, or other Animal might touch him; for by the power of his Charms, his spirit, by the misleading of Devils, brings from far some token (namely, a Ring or a Knife), for a testimony of his Embassie or Commission fulfilled. And, presently, rising up, he declares the same signs to him that hired him, with the rest of the Circumstances.’

This illustration is from ‘The History of Witches and Wizards’ (1700 ?), and shows a Northern witch raising a storm by means of a pump, whilst a Laplander in his kayack rides in safety.