Witch, Warlock, and Magician - Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland

William H. Davenport Adams

Description

An introduction to European alchemy and a history of the practise of witchcraft and magic from the fourteenth century through to the seventeenth century.

William H. Davenport Adams presents the work of magicians and astrologers from fourteenth-century England through to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. First published in 1889, this volume gives historical accounts of witchcraft and records of witch trials.

Featuring the following chapters:

- The English Magicians

- Roger Bacon: The True and the Legendary

- The Story of Dr. John Dee

- The Last of the English Magicians: William Lilly

- Witches and Witchcraft

- Early History of Witchcraft in England

- The Decline of Witchcraft in England

- The Literature of Witchcraft

Sujets

• Witchcraft
• Spirituality
• Wicca

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 28 octobre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781473370883
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Witch, Warlock, and Magician - Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland
by
William H. Davenport Adams


Copyright © 2013 Read Books Ltd.
This book is copyright and may not be
reproduced or copied in any way without
the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library


Contents
Witch, Warlock, and Magician - Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland
The Folklore and History of Witchcraft
INTRODUCTION.
PROGRESS OF ALCHEMY IN EUROPE.
BOOK I. THE ENGLISH MAGICIANS
CHAPTER I. ROGER BACON: THE TRUE AND THE LEGENDARY.
CHAPTER II. THE STORY OF DR. JOHN DEE.
CHAPTER III. DR. DEE’S DIARY.
CHAPTER IV. MAGIC AND IMPOSTURE —A COUPLE OF KNAVES.
CHAPTER V. THE LAST OF THE ENGLISH MAGICIANS: WILLIAM LILLY.
CHAPTER VI. ENGLISH ROSICRUCIANS.
BOOK II. WITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT.
CHAPTER I. EARLY HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT IN ENGLAND.
CHAPTER II. WITCHCRAFT IN ENGLAND IN THE 17TH CENTURY.
CHAPTER III. THE DECLINE OF WITCHCRAFT IN ENGLAND.
CHAPTER IV. THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND.
CHAPTER V. THE LITERATURE OF WITCHCRAFT.


The Folklore and History of Witchcraft
Witchcraft, also called ‘witchery’ or ‘spellcraft’ is the use of magical faculties, most commonly for religious, divinatory or medicinal purposes. The belief and the practice of magic has been present since the earliest human cultures and continues to have an important religious and medicinal role in many cultures today. The concept of witchcraft and sorcery, and those accused of its practice have sadly often been utilised as a scapegoat for human misfortune. This was particularly the case in the early modern period of Europe where witchcraft came to be seen as part of a vast diabolical conspiracy of individuals in league with the Devil undermining Christianity. This eventually led to large-scale witch hunts, especially in Protestant Europe. Witch hunts continue to this day with tragic consequences.
Witches and witchcraft have long been objects of fear, and occasionally admiration in traditional folkloric tales. The Ancient Greeks believed in a deity named ‘Hecate’ who was said to be the god of all witches, as well as hexes, poisonous plants and sorcery. One of the other names she was known by, ‘Chthonia’ literally translates as ‘of the underworld.’ Such folkloric beliefs inspired the character of ‘Circe’ in Homer’s Odyssey. Here, Circe lived on an island named Aeaea, where she turned passing sailors into wolves and lions. Odysseus only narrowly escaped transformation due to a magical plant. Indian folkloric tradition has an all-together darker tale, that of ‘Chedipe’; a woman who died during childbirth. She was said to ride on a tiger at night-fall, and enter people’s houses. Then without waking a soul, she would suck the life out of each man through the toes. The most famous English portrayal of witchcraft is the three witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth, inspired by the tale of the Moirai. These three sisters—or fates—are the first characters the audience encounters and act as agents of destruction, sending Macbeth into a spiral of corruption and obsession.
In Early Modern European tradition witches were stereotypically, though not exclusively women. European pagan belief in witchcraft was associated with the goddess Diana, and was fully believed by much of the population. With the advent of Christianity however, such beliefs were dismissed as ‘diabolical fantasies’ by medieval Christian authors. Early converts to Christianity looked to Christian clergy to work magic more effectively than the old methods under Roman paganism, and Christianity provided a methodology involving saints and relics, similar to the gods and amulets of the Pagan world. The Protestant Christian explanation for witchcraft, such as those typified in the confessions of the Pendle witches (a series of famous witch trials which took place in Lancashire in 1612), commonly involves a diabolical pact or at least an appeal to the intervention of the spirits of evil.
The witches or wizards engaged in such practices were alleged to reject Jesus and the sacraments; observe ‘the witches’ sabbath’ (performing infernal rites that often parodied the Mass or other sacraments of the Church); pay Divine honour to the Prince of Darkness; and, in return, receive from him preternatural powers. It was a folkloric belief that a Devil’s Mark, like the brand on cattle, was placed upon a witch’s skin by the devil to signify that this pact had been made. The Church and European society were not always so zealous in hunting witches or blaming them for misfortunes. Saint Boniface declared in the eighth century that belief in the existence of witches was un-Christian. The emperor Charlemagne further decreed that the burning of supposed witches was a pagan custom that would be punished by the death penalty. In 820 the Bishop of Lyon repudiated the belief that witches could make bad weather, fly in the night and change their shape. This denial was accepted into Canon Law until it was reversed in later centuries as witch hunts gained force.
It should be noted, that not all witches were assumed to be harmful practitioners of their craft. In England the provision of curative magic was the job of a witch doctor, also known as a cunning man, white witch, or wise man. The term ‘witch doctor’ was in use in England before it came to be associated with Africa. ‘Toad Doctors’ were also credited with the ability to undo evil witchcraft. Since the twentieth century, witchcraft has become a designated branch of modern paganism. It is most notably practiced in the Wiccan and witchcraft traditions, which are generally portrayed as revivals of pre-Christian European ritual and spirituality. They are understood to involve varying degrees of magic, shamanism, folk medicine, spiritual healing, calling on elementals and spirits, veneration of ancient deities and archetypes as well as attunement with the forces of nature. Today, both men and women are equally termed ‘witches.’ We hope that the reader is inspired by this incredibly short history of the folklore surrounding witchcraft, to find out more about this intriguing subject.


WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN Historical Sketches of Magic and Witchcraft in England and Scotland BY W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS ‘Dreams and the light imaginings of men’ Shelley


PREFACE.
The following pages may be regarded as a contribution towards that ‘History of Human Error’ which was undertaken by Mr. Augustine Caxton. I fear that many minds will have to devote all their energies to the work, if it is ever to be brought to completion; and, indeed, it may plausibly be argued that its completion would be an impossibility, since every generation adds something to the melancholy record—‘pulveris exigui parva munera.’ However this may be, little more remains to be said on the subjects which I have here considered from the standpoint of a sympathetic though incredulous observer. Alchemy, Magic, Witchcraft—how exhaustively they have been investigated will appear from the list of authorities which I have drawn up for the reader’s convenience. They have been studied by ‘adepts,’ and by critics, as realities and as delusions; and almost the last word would seem to have been said by Science—though not on the side of the adepts, who still continue to dream of the Hermetic philosophy, to lose themselves in fanciful pictures, theurgic and occult, and to write about the mysteries of magic with a simplicity of faith which we may wonder at, but are bound to respect.
It has not been my purpose, in the present volume, to attempt a general history of magic and alchemy, or a scientific inquiry into their psychological aspects. I have confined myself to a sketch of their progress in England, and to a narrative of the lives of our principal magicians. This occupies the first part. The second is devoted to an historical review of witchcraft in Great Britain, and an examination into the most remarkable Witch-Trials, in which I have endeavoured to bring out their peculiar features, presenting much of the evidence adduced, and in some cases the so-called confessions of the victims, in the original language. I believe that the details, notwithstanding the reticence imposed upon me by considerations of delicacy and decorum, will surprise the reader, and that he will readily admit the profound interest attaching to them, morally and intellectually. I have added a chapter on the ‘Literature of Witchcraft,’ which, I hope, is tolerably exhaustive, and now offer the whole as an effort to present, in a popular and readable form, the result of careful and conscientious study extending over many years.
W. H. D. A.


INTRODUCTION.
PROGRESS OF ALCHEMY IN EUROPE.
The word χημεια —from which we derive our English word ‘chemistry’—first occurs, it is said, in the Lexicon of Suidas, a Greek writer who flourished in the eleventh century. Here is his definition of it:
‘Chemistry is the art of preparing gold and silver. The books concerning it were sought out and burnt by Diocletian, on account of the new plots directed against him by the Egyptians. He behaved towards them with great cruelty in his search after the treatises written by the ancients, his purpose being to prevent them from growing rich by a knowledge of this art, lest, emboldened by measureless wealth, they should be induced to resist the Roman supremacy.’
Some authorities assert, however, that this art, or pretended art, is of much greater antiquity than Suidas knew of; and Scaliger refers to a Greek manuscript by Zozomen, of the fifth century, which is entitled ‘A Faithful Description of the Secret and Divine Art of Making Gold