RE VIE WS.

THE WITCH-CULT IN WESTERN EUROPE. A STUDY IN ANTHRO

POLOGY. MARGARET ALICE MURRAY. Oxford: at the
Clarendon Press. I92I. Pp. 303. Price I6s.
" ROGO os, oportet credatis, sunt mulieres plussciae, sunt
nocturnae, et quod sursum est deorsum faciunt.1 Miss Murray
is as earnest as Trimalchio; it is likely in consequence that I

shall find myself written down in her black books in the good
company of Reginald Scot as an unscientific sceptic. But Miss
Murray has laid herself open to an obvious retort. If quota-
tions taken from their context may give rise to misleading
interpretations, still more misleading is the treatment of a series
of documents torn from the background of their own age and
divorced from the serious study of their immediate historical
antecedents. For obvious reasons, before propounding a theory
of the origin of the superstitions connected with witchcraft
couched in terms of a nebulous and hypothetical primitive
religion, it is the duty of the investigator to make some attempt
to master the historical development of medieval thought and
superstition and the late classical ideas upon which they were
largely based.
Upon general grounds the supposition that an organised cult
of primeval antiquity survived into the seventeenth century
A.D. without attracting the notice of any previous historian is
one which is not easy to take upon trust. We are told that such
a religion existed and that it was a fertility-cult, but its outlines
are quite indeterminate. The two classical references given
have no evidential value, and for detail we are, in fact, referred
1 Petronius, Sat. 63.

Reviews. 225

to what the eye of faith can deduce in the reports on witchcraft

in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The hypothetical dwarf race, to memories of which the origin
of fairies has by some been attributed (a view which I do not
personally share) seems to have something to do with the matter,
together with some still more elusive race or races which are
thought to have carried the worship of Ianus and Diana into
Italy. Incidentally, the supposed existence of a pre-historic
two-faced god in Italy (p. I2) is based upon a misapprehension.
In fact, there is nothing but dubious etymology to connect
lanus and Diana. The former was not anthropomorphically
conceived in the earliest stage of Roman religion, and his repre-
-sentation by art in human form cannot precede the later
monarchy; while the Diana of medieval lore is, of course,
derived not from the aboriginal Italian divinity but from the
Graeco-Roman Diana-Artemis-Hecate.
The evidence for the continuity of this religion is not more
convincing than that for its existence. Miss Murray quotes a
number of passages, but they do not, in fact, prove more than
the following indisputable but, for her argument, irrelevant
facts. i. The practice of magic was regarded as anti-social, and
as such condemned by the State. This was equally true of
classical antiquity.1 2. The worship of heathen gods was dis-
countenanced by Church and State. Miss Murray is not entitled
to claim a special sense for the word " demons." Christians
believed that all heathen gods were devils, but the pagans did
not admit or suppose that in continuing the religious rites of
their fathers they were worshipping the Devil or devils.2 3. The
1 A convenient summary of Roman legislation will be found in Abt,
Die Apologie des Apuleius von Madaura und die antike Zauberei (Giessen,
1909), pp. 9 foll.
s In the middle of the nineteenth century Rawlinson is prepared to
accept the view that the oracles of Delphi were delivered through the
agency of an " evil spirit" (see his note on Herod. i. 47). With this
view, which, of course, was generally held by early Christians, compare
the language of sixteenth century travellers in India, e.g. " All the
pictures around the said chapel are those of devils and on each side
of it there is a Sathanas seated in a seat," Ludovico di Varthema, Travels
(Hakluyt Society, i868), p. 136.

226 Reviews.

Church endeavoured to discountenance as pagan certain popular

seasonal festivals at which masquerade was worn. This is
common knowledge, and is true of the Eastern Church no less
than of the Western.
With regard to the trial of Alice Kyteler, who is stated to have
been accused both of operative and of ritual witchcraft, the
charges were neither more nor less ritual than those brought
against Apuleius or Piso.2 I can find no evidence in the
records of the alleged cult organisation associated with six-
teenth century witchcraft.
The difficulty raised by Miss Murray on p. I6, as to how
the inquisitors could arrive at a systematic theory of what
witches were supposed to do except from the facts elicited at
trials, is less real than it appears. Long before the handbooks.
for inquisitors were put into circulation at the end of the
fifteenth century,3 there existed a quite definite conception of
the nature of witches and their activities which was generally
accepted throughout Europe. The civilisation of the Middle
Ages was an international European civilisation, the common
views of which found expression mainly in a common language,
Latin. The various ingredients of its superstitions, among
which those ultimately derived from classical literature and
tradition predominated, were fused in the crucible of medieval
thought and given definite shape and system by the voluminous
ifmisdirected learning of scholasticism.. Thanks to the work
of such writers as John of Salisbury, Gervase of Tilbury and
their fellows, medieval demonology was systematised, and an
established doctrine became current throughout Western
Europe.
It is true that certain features of sixteenth century witch-
craft, to which Miss Murray draws attention, do not belong to
this tradition. Their source is probably to be found in the
t For cock sacrifice, cf. Apuleius, Apologia, 47. It is, of course, a.
frequent feature of classical magic.
2 Tacitus, Annals, ii. 69; iii. 13.
3 The Malleus Malificarum of Sprenger was first published in I492..
This, the Formicarium of Nider and a number of less famous tracts,
are collected in a volume entitled Malleorum quorundam maleficarumr
tam veterum quam recentiorum authorum published at Frankfort in 1582.

Reviews. 227

reaction of the events of religious history upon superstition.

For obvious reasons popular fear and hatred are easily aroused
against the practice of Black Magic, and from the thirteenth
century onwards the charge of witchcraft, so prejudicial to the
accused and so insusceptible of disproof, was freely used as a
political weapon against individuals and by the Church against
heretical sects. The view that witches were organised in the
same sort of way as heretical sects thus probably arose from the
association of Black Magic with the ritual of such bodies as the
Waldenses and Templars.
When Miss Murray says of the Black Mass that it may have
been the earlier form and influenced the Christian, her hobby
horse has surely taken the bit between its teeth. Hoc est corpus
meum is not derived from hocus pocus, nor the Lord's Prayer
from the use in magic of its words reversed. The coven
similarly proves to be the parody of a Christian institution,1 a
fact which undermines Miss Murray's strongest position. In
medieval Christianity " the holy covent " was used in a technical
sense to denote Christ and the Twelve Apostles. Probably not
much earlier than the fourteenth century (I290 is the earliest
reference given in the Dictionary) companies of "religious '

persons, whether constituting a separate community or sections

of a larger one, were formed upon the model of this holy proto-
type, and consisted of twelve members and a superior. Thus
Strype speaks of " all... houses of religion . . . whereof the
number in any one house is or of late hath been less than a
covent, that is to say under thirteen persons."
But even if, as I believe, Miss Murray's main thesis is com-
pletely mistaken, and the characteristic features of sixteenth cen-
tury witchcraft derive from (a) the system of demonology created
by the scholastics, and (b) from the association of witchcraft
with persecuted heretical sects, there still remains an interesting
question. How far did the sixteenth century witches actually
form an organised sect or secret society ? This is not an easy
question to answer with certainty. I am myself inclined to be
sceptical as to the extent and efficiency of the organisation.
1 The evidence may be consulted in Murray's New English Dictionary,
ii. pp. 935, IIoo svv. convent and coven.

228 Reviews.

The evidence though voluminous is untrustworthy. The

interrogators had fixed prepossessions of a definite kind. The
character, age and sex of many of the witnesses and accused
inspires little confidence. The conduct and circumstances of
the trials too frequently illustrate the low standards of pro-
cedure which often disgraced the courts of the period. It is
further difficult to believe that had anything like an organised
secret society existed it would not have played an important
part in the political struggles of the period. At least the menace
of its possible manipulation would have been known and
denounced openly, which it was not, even by King James.1
The alleged business part of the Sabbath rites, the adjudication
by the Devil upon reports of wickednesses committed, shows a
close affinity with popular ideas. It is the sort of thing that
devils do, as the familiar folktale of True and Untrue illustrates.
To discuss the detail of the various chapters is not possible in
the space at my disposal, but I am bound to point out that a
good deal of the so-called evidence consists, in fact, of an inter-
pretation of the documents, the plausibility of which depends
upon the previous acceptance of the main thesis of the book.
Further, Miss Murray rationalises arbitrarily; sometimes the
evidence is taken at its face value, at others it is " interpreted."
She too often assumes that when a witness was reported to have
met the Devil in an animal form, what was really meant was
a man dressed up in an animal disguise, which those of us, who
visit pantomimes, know to be something quite distinguishable.
Similarly, both accusers and accused would be likely to repudiate
1 I cannot agree with Miss Murray's account of the Bothwell episode.
I find no evidence of his having been the Devil except her desire to
believe it. That he consulted witches he confessed; that quite probably
he was implicated in the attempt upon the king's life by magical means
may be true, though he denied it. But his final collapse in the long
struggle with Maitland was due not to the breaking of a witch organisa-
tion of which he was head, but to the hostile action of the Kirk upon
the publication of his correspondence with Huntly and the Catholic
earls. It would be, in fact, a strong reason for denying any effectiveness
to the witch organisation, if Bothwell were its head, since he would
infallibly have turned its machinery to account. But the alleged plot
upon the king's life employed solely magical means, nor is there any
evidence of any secular use of a secret organisation.

Reviews. 229g

the view that a man masquerading as the Devil is equivalent to

the Devil in human shape. If Miss Murray were to turn to the
practitioners of astrology and white magic belonging to the
period, she would find that the occurrence of analogous super-
natural encounters are believed and stated in perfect good faith.1
The discussion of animal transformations clearly demands a.
study of a wider range of facts, nor can the familiars of witches
be considered apart from the familiars of other practitioners of
the Magic Arts both earlier and contemporary. The argument
that the magical rites of witches, which, like the magic of all
times and places (e.g. that denounced in the Roman twelve
tables), are concerned with injuring the fertility of man, beast
and field, are therefore inverted survivals from rites originally
intended to promote fertility is very unconvincing. The argu-
ment that the peculiar voice of the Devil points to the use of a
mask will appear flimsy to those familiar with the stridor
characteristic of Roman witches who did not wear masks.2
The relation of the riding of horses by witches to popular super-
stition as to the cause of nightsweating in the stable has not
been considered, nor the possible connection of the lighted
candles of the witches' revels with " fairy lights " and corpse
candles.3 The alleged frigidity of witches rests upon a medieval
1 E.g. Aubrey, Miscellanies, pp. I69 foil. A closer study of the period
might lead Miss Murray to modify the unreal importance which she:
attaches to some points of detail, e.g. the wearing of his hat indoor
by the Devil has no esoteric significance. The widow of Lilly's master
" next day at dinner made me sit down at dinner with my hat on my
head and said, that she intended to make me her husband." Lilly's;
History of His Life and Times (London, I774), p. 28.
2 This characteristic of classical witches is well discussed by Flower
Smith, Hasting's Enc. Rel. Eth. s.v. Magic (Greek and Roman).
3 Sunt et aliae ludificationes malignorum spirituum, quas faciunt
interdum in nemoribus et locis amoenis, et frondosis arboribus ubi
apparent in similitudine puellarum aut matronarum, ornatu muliebri
et candido, interdum etiam in stabulis cum luminaribus cereis, ex
quibus apparent distillationes in comis et collis equorum et comae
ipsorum diligenter tricatae; et audies eos qui talia se vidisse fatentur,
dicentes veram ceram esse quae de luminaribus huiusmodi stillaverat.
Guil. Alvernus, Bishop of Paris, De Universo (thirteenth century), quoted
by Thomas Wright, Proceedings against Dame Alice Kyteler (Camden
P

230 Reviews.

theory which
which may
may be
be found
found inin Nider's
Nider's Formicarium.l
Formicarium.l Broom-
Broom-
sticks, again,
again, and
and their
their magical
magical useuse carry
carry usus back
back beyond
beyond thethe
Middle Ages
Ages toto Lucian
Lucian 22 and
and the
the flying
flying ointment
ointment toto Apuleius.3
Apuleius.3
Itis pleasant
pleasant toto have
have an
an analysis
analysis ofof the
the latter
latter and
and totolearn
learn itsits
physiological properties;
physiological properties; but
but more
more entertaining
entertaining still
stillwould
would it it
be to learn
learn the
the prescription
prescription for
for that
that which
which Fotis
Fotis gave
gave totoLucius
Lucius
by mistake
mistake for
for it.it.
W. R. HALLIDAY.

THE SEMA NAGAS. By J. H. HUTTON, C.I.E., M.A., I.C.S.

Published by direction of the Assam Administration.
London: Macmillan & Co. I92I. Price 40s. net.
IN the December No. of Folk-Lore (vol. xxxii., 4, p. 280) Dr.
Crooke reviewed The Angami Nagas, by Mr. Hutton. I now have
the pleasure of calling attention to The Sema Nagas by the same
author; it is almost unprecedented that two books of such
first-class importance should be published in the same year by
one author. The book is in many respects a model of what can
and should be done by a Government official. Mr. Hutton
disclaims the title of anthropologist, but we know of many books
written by people who claim to be anthropologists which are
less embracing and thorough than the one under consideration.
All aspects of the ethnography of the people are dealt with,
and adequately illustrated by sketches or photographs, a third
of the book being taken up with the description of their origin,
appearance, and domestic arts and crafts; the effects of
" contact metamorphism " are also indicated. In the carefully
considered section on social life we find that the Sema Nagas
Soc. 1843), p. xxxiv. For corpse candles, see Aubrey, Miscellanies, I76.
Cf. the superstition of sailors in the seventeenth century with regard to
the phosphorescent lights visible at the masthead in stormy weather.
Covel's Diaries in Bent, Early Voyages and Travels in the Levant (Hakluyt
Society, 1893), p. 127.
1 Malleorum, etc., i. p. 712.
2 Lucian, Philopseudes, 35. Cf. the magic arrow upon which Abasis
rode through the air (Porphyry, Vit. Pythag., 29.
3 Apuleius, Metamorphoses, iii. 21 foll.