Witchcraft & Devil Lore In The Channel Islands

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 meetings--very questionable assemblies of
people did take place at intervals among the inhabitants of many
countries. Probably these gatherings first had their rise in the old
pagan times, and were subsequently continued from force of habit, long
after their real origin and significance had been forgotten. Now, it
would be very easy for these orgies to become associated--particularly
in the then superstitious condition of the popular mind--with the
actual bodily presence of the Devil as one of the participants; while
it is also not improbable that, in some cases at least, heartless and
evil-minded persons worked upon the prevailing credulity to further
their own nefarious purposes. Our esteemed Bailiff has offered a
suggestion or two of considerable value on this point with regard to
certain Guernsey phases of the superstition.