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 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 According to the confessions of the unfortunate victims of the
superstition and credulity of their times, to which allusion has been
made above, the doings of Satan with them were just such as we
read of in the accounts of prosecutions for witchcraft in other
countries. A desire to be revenged on some persons who had given
them offence seems to have been the first motive.

“North Arm, Old Harbour, showing back of Pollet.”

The Devil then appeared to them in the shape of a black dog, cat,
or other animal, sometimes under one likeness, sometimes under
another; offered his services, invited them to attend the “Sabbath,”
which was generally held in some weird, out-of-the-way locality;
furnished them with a certain ointment, which was to be rubbed on
the back and stomach; after doing which, they found themselves
carried through the air, with extraordinary velocity, to the appointed
place of meeting, where they found other wizards and witches, and
a number of imps in the shape of dogs, cats, and hares. They were
unable to recognise the other sorcerers on account of their all
appearing blackened and disfigured, but they knew who they were
by their answering to their names when the roll was called over by
Satan before entering on the business of the night.
They commenced by adoring their infernal master in a manner
which it is not necessary to describe minutely. They then danced
back to back, after which they were regaled with bread and wine,
which Satan poured out of silver or pewter flagons into goblets of
the same metals. They all agreed in describing the wine as being
inferior to that usually drunk; and they asserted that salt was never
seen at these feasts. The Devil, before dismissing the assembly,
gave them a certain black powder, of which we have spoken before.
The favourite form assumed by Satan on these occasions seems to
have been that of a large black dog, standing upright on his hind
legs, but he sometimes appeared in the shape of a he-goat.
Isabell Le Moigne described him as a black dog of large size, with
long erect horns, and hands like those of a man. Deeds were done
at the Sabbath which will not bear being spoken of; but there are
circumstances which lead one to suppose that the poor deluded
wretches of women may, in some cases, have been deceived by
designing men, who enticed them from their houses at night, and,
under assumed disguises, abused their credulity.
All sorcerers were marked by Satan in some part or other of the
body, and the mark thus made was insensible to pain, and bloodless.
One of the witches asserted that the Devil, before her enlistment
into his service, required of her the gift of some living animal, and
that she presented him with a young fowl. The next night at the
Sabbath, whither she was conveyed through the air after having duly
anointed her body with the ointment given her by the Devil, she was
made to renounce the Holy Trinity, and to promise obedience to her
infernal master. It appeared also from the confessions that if the
servants of Satan refused to do his behests, they are beaten and
otherwise maltreated by him.
 It is clear from the evidence given in many of the trials for
witchcraft that the accused, in a majority of cases, were persons
who trafficked on the ignorance and credulity of the people, and
who encouraged the idea of their being possessed of supernatural
powers so long as they found it profitable to do so.
Even in the present day there are people who are afraid to refuse
to give alms to a beggar, lest an evil eye should be cast upon them;
and who can say how many deaths of cattle and pigs, attributed to
witchcraft, may not have been caused by poison adroitly
administered out of revenge for a supposed injury?
In their nocturnal flights through the air to their appointed place
of meeting with the Demon, witches were said to utter loud cries;
and persons may, perhaps, still be found ready to affirm that in
tempestuous nights, when the wind was howling round their
dwellings, they have been able to distinguish above all the tumult of
the elements, the unearthly cry of “Har-hèri[146]! qué-hou-hou!
Sabbat! Sabbat.” This cry is attributed to the “gens du hocq” or
“gens du Vendredi,” as they are called by those whose prudence
deters them from speaking of “sorciers” and “sorcières,” lest the use
of such offensive epithets should give umbrage. It is believed, too,
that in their assemblies on Friday nights on the hill of Catiôroc,
around the cromlech called “Le Trepied,” or on the sands of
Rocquaine Bay, they dance to a roundelay, the burden of which is
“Qué-hou-hou! Marie Lihou!” Some suppose that these words are
uttered in defiance of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in whose honour the
church and priory were erected and dedicated by the name of Notre
Dame, Ste. Marie de Lihou. They are now a heap of shapeless ruins,
but the place must have been looked upon as one of peculiar
sanctity, for even down to the present day French coasting vessels
passing by salute it by lowering their topmast. It is not then to be
wondered at if the infernal sisterhood—one of whose chief
amusements, as is well known, is the raising of storms in which
many a proud vessel goes down—should take a particular delight in
insulting the “Star of the Sea,” the kind and ever-watchful guardian
of the poor mariner.
Wizards and witches are supposed to have the power of
navigating on the sea in egg-shells, and on the blade-bones of
animals. It is to prevent this improper use of them that the spoon is
always thrust through the egg-shell after eating its contents, and
that a hole is made through the blade-bone before throwing it away.
It is believed that witches have the power of assuming the shape
of various animals, and many stories turn on the exercise of this
supposed faculty. The favourite forms with them appear to be those
of cats, hares, and “cahouettes”[147] or red-legged choughs. It is not
easy to conjecture how this beautiful and harmless bird got into such
bad company; perhaps its predilection for the wild and unfrequented
cliffs and headlands, where the witches are supposed to hold their
unholy meetings, may have gained it the reputation of being in
alliance with them.
In Guernsey, as elsewhere, a horseshoe, nailed on the lintel, door,
or threshold, or on the mast or any other part of a ship or boat, is
supposed to be a sure preservative against witchcraft, and, although
a black cat is one of the most frequent disguises assumed by Satan’s
imps and servants, the household in which a cat without a single
white hair is domesticated, is thought to be highly favoured, as none
of the infernal gang will venture to molest it. As some persons are
fully persuaded that every black cat, however tame and well-
behaved it may appear to be, is in reality in league with the Prince of
Darkness, it may be that any interference on the part of others of
the fraternity is contrary to the rules established among them, and
resented accordingly, the old saying that “two of a trade cannot
agree,” holding good in this case.
Allusion has been made to those who have an interest in
encouraging a belief in witchcraft, and there is no doubt that
persons who, for some reason or other, enjoy the unenviable
reputation of dabbling in this forbidden art, now that they have no
longer the fear of the stake and faggot before their eyes, and have
only the minor terrors of a Police Court to dread, are not altogether
unwilling to brave the latter danger if, by working on the credulity of
the ignorant and superstitious, they can extort money, or even
command a certain amount of consideration as the possessors of
supernatural powers.
Few would venture in the present day to acknowledge openly that
they could injure their neighbours by the exercise of unholy arts; but
many may be found who pretend to a secret knowledge which may
be used for beneficent purposes.
The difference, however, between a true witch—the servant of
Satan—and what is commonly called “a white witch,” has never been
clearly defined. The latter is known in Guernsey by the name of
“désorceleresse” or “désorceleur,” for the art is quite as frequently, if
not more frequently, exercised by men than by women. The persons
who practise it pretend to be able to declare whether man or beast
is suffering from the effects of witchcraft, to discover who it is that
has cast the spell, and, by means of spells and incantations, to
counteract the evil influence. It is clear, however, that one who is in
possession of such powers must himself have a very intimate and
profound knowledge of the arts he is fighting against, and that, if
offended, he may perhaps be tempted to practise them. The
“désorceleur” thus is as much feared as trusted, and as, of course,
he cannot be expected to give his valuable services for nothing, the
profession is often found to be very remunerative, large sums of
money, besides presents in kind, being sometimes extorted from the
superstition and fears of the credulous dupes.
There is no doubt, however, that some of these pretenders have
some skill in the cure of the diseases to which cattle are liable, and
even that some of the minor ailments to which the human race are
subject, are occasionally relieved by them, especially those—and
among ignorant, uneducated people they are not few—which arise
out of a disordered imagination. The habits of close observation
which those of his profession acquire must needs give the
“désorceleur” a great insight into character; his cunning will soon
teach him how to work on the fears and credulity of those who come
to consult him, and his experience will guide him into the best way
of exercising his knowledge.
How far the so-called white-witches are believers in their own
supernatural powers is an open question. It may be that, in making
use of certain forms or practices which they have learned from
others, they may be fully persuaded in their own minds of their
efficacy, it may be that in some cases they are labouring under a
sort of hallucination.
A noted bone-setter, who, it is said, was occasionally resorted to
when man or beast was supposed to be under evil influence, or
when it was sought to discover the perpetration of a theft, used to
account for his pretended knowledge of the anatomy of the human
body by asserting solemnly that this knowledge had been revealed
to him in a vision from Heaven, and he had repeated this story so
often that it was evident to his hearers that he had come at last to
believe fully in the truth of what he said.
The rustic bone-setter is not necessarily a “désorceleur,” although,
as in the instance just noticed, the two professions may be
combined; but he is skilled in the cure of those somewhat
mysterious ailments known as “une veine trésaillie,” which seems to
be a sprain or strain, and “les côtaïs bas,” which may be defined as
that sort of dyspeptic affection which the lower orders call a “sinking
of the stomach” or “all-overness.” This ailment is supposed popularly
to be caused by the ribs slipping out of their place, and is cured by
manipulation and pushing them gradually back into their proper
position. The efficacy of friction properly applied in reducing a sprain
is well known, and accounts for the frequent success of the bone-
setter in the treatment of “veines trésaillies.”
Some of these practitioners—old women as well as men—pretend
to have the gift of causing warts to disappear by counting them, and
asking certain questions of the persons applying to them for relief.
The principal information they seem to wish to arrive at is the age of
the person; and this known, they predict that the warts are likely to
disappear within a certain time. As these unsightly excrescences
affect more particularly young persons, and as it is known that they
frequently disappear naturally at that age when youth is passing into
manhood, it is not unlikely that this fact may have been observed,
and the knowledge of it turned to account. It is believed that those
who possess the secret may impart it to one, and to one only; but
they must receive neither fee nor reward for so doing; for if they do,
or if they tell it to more than one, they lose their power of curing.
They must not receive money for their services, but if a cure is
effected they are at liberty to take a present.

“Town Harbour, from an old picture.”

As might be expected, fortune-telling forms no small part of the

white-witch’s profession, although all do not practise it, and some
confine themselves to this particular branch alone. Cards seem to be
now the principal means used for prying into the secrets of futurity,
but other appliances have been used, and may, perhaps, still be
used by some, such as the detection of a thief by means of a Bible
and key.
A sort of rhabdomancy, or divination by small rods, shuffled
together with certain ceremonies and charms, and then thrown on
the ground, was used by a sort of half-demented creature called
Collas Roussé, about the end of the last century.
He is said to have had a good deal of shrewdness, to have been
very quick at repartee, and to have had great facility in expressing
himself in rhymed sentences. He appears to have believed that he
was really in possession of supernatural knowledge, and as his
assumption of extraordinary powers gained credence with the vulgar,
he found it an easy task to make a profit of their credulity. It is
reported of him that when brought to justice for some gross act of
imposition, he had the audacity to threaten his judges with the
effects of his vengeance. His threats, however, did not deter the
magistrates from sentencing him to exposure in the cage on a
market day, with his divining apparatus by his side. He bore his
punishment bravely, and entertained the multitude who crowded to
see him with rhyming remarks. Another species of rhabdomancy is
the use of the divining rod, the efficacy of which is fully believed in,
not only for the discovery of springs of water, but also for the
revealing of the spot where treasure has been concealed; and, if the
stories that are told are all to be depended upon, there is evidence
sufficient to stagger the sturdiest unbeliever.
A country gentleman, now dead, whom nobody who knew him
took for a conjurer, was particularly renowned for his skill in this art.
Not only could he tell by means of the rod where a spring of water
was to be found, and to what depth it would be necessary to dig
before coming to it, but he could also discover in what part of a field
or house money or plate had been hidden. In order, however, to
perform this last feat, it is necessary that the rod should be
previously touched with metal of the same kind as that to be sought
for. It is only in the hands of some few favoured individuals that the
rod works, and even then it does so in various degrees; with some,
being violently agitated, with others, moving slowly, and sometimes
imperceptibly. The art of holding the forked stick may be taught to
anyone, but unless a natural aptitude exists, the rod remains inert in
the grasp of the holder.
A portion of the confessions of some of the unfortunate victims
who suffered at the stake in 1617, translated from the records
preserved in the Register Office of the Royal Court of Guernsey, will
be given as a specimen of the absurdities to which credence could
be given in a superstitious age.[148]
It must not, however, be forgotten that the island did not stand
alone in this belief. No part of Europe seems to have escaped the
absurd dread of witchcraft, which, like a pestilence, spread from one
nation to another, and from which even the most learned of the age,
men of profound thought, did not escape. One curious fact may be
noticed; the practices imputed to the accused, who were for the
most part of the lowest and most ignorant classes of society, and to
which in numberless instances they confessed, appear to have been
nearly identical in all countries. The inference is that they must have
been handed down from a very remote period, and that they were in
use among the pretenders to magical arts and supernatural powers
among our pagan ancestors; just as in the present day we find
similar ideas and practices existing among savage tribes, and in
semi-civilised countries where the light of Christianity has not yet
penetrated. It is well known how difficult it is to wean a people from
their primitive belief, and how prone they are to cling to it in secret.
Is it not possible that some secret society may have existed for ages
after the spread of the Gospel in which heathen practices may have
been perpetuated?

[146] Ké, Gué or Tié and Hou are epithets applied to the Deity
in the Bas Breton. MS. Note by Mr. George Métivier.
“Sabot-Daim—a witch hornpipe.” (Idem.)
[147] Mr. Métivier, in his Dictionnaire Franco-Normand, has a
long article on “cahouettes.” He says:—
 “They play, in neo-latin mythology, a very interesting part, even
to-day some traces of which are to be found. Wizards and
witches, according to the councils, disguised themselves formerly
as ‘cahouets’ and ‘cahouettes.’ Raphaël, Archbishop of Nicosie,
capital of the island of Cyprus, in the year 1251, excommunicated
all the ‘cahouets’ and the ‘cahouettes’ as well as those who
supported and encouraged games of chance.—(Constitutions, ch.
15). And the Council of Nîmes, thirty years after, treats in the
same manner witches and sooth sayers, ‘coavets’ and ‘coavettes.’
“In the hierarchy of Mithras, that type of the rising sun which
bewitched the Gauls, the deacon, or minister was entitled
‘corneille’ or rook; and on the first day of the year, according to
Porphyry, the initiates disguised themselves severally as beasts
and birds.”
Mr. Métivier ends by citing two authorities on ancient traditions
concerning these birds.
“Le corbeau est consacré à Apollon, et il est son ministre
(famulus), voilà pourquoi il possède la faculté de prédire.” Gérard
Jean Voss, liv. 3, sur l’Idolâtrie.
“Je crois que ces cérémonies se célébraient près de Coptos,
ville dont le nom était si fameux, et d’où vient l’Egypte. Dans les
environs de cette cité, on voyait deux corbeaux, c’étaient les
seuls.… Et il y avait là l’image d’Apollon, auquel les corbeaux
étaient consacrés.”
“La corneille est le symbole de l’amour conjugal.” Nicolas
Caussin, Jésuite, natif de Troyes, Notes sur Horapollo. Paris,
1618, p. 165.
[148] Editor’s Note.—These are also given in full, in French,
with an English translation, by Mr. J. Linwood Pitts, F.S.A.,
(Normandy), in his Witchcraft and Devil-Lore in the Channel
Islands, etc., 1886.

Trials for Witchcraft, and Confessions of Witches.

Editor’s Note.—The documents which follow are translated from the Records of
the Royal Court preserved at the Greffe. Sir Edgar MacCulloch had copied out the
depositions of the witnesses on loose sheets of paper, evidently meaning to
incorporate them into his book. The “Confession of the Witches” in his MS. follows
his essay on Witchcraft.
 15th May, 1581.

Katherine Eustace and her daughter were accused by common

consent of practising the art of witchcraft in the island.
The wife of Collas Cousin deposed that having refused to give milk
to the accused, saying that there were poorer people to whom she
would rather give, her cow then gave blood instead of milk.
Johan Le Roux deposed that having been seized with great pains
in his knee, he believed himself to be bewitched by Katherine
Eustace, so his wife went to the latter and threatened to denounce
her to the Royal Court; after that he got better.

28th October, 1581.

Robert Asheley, found dead in the garden behind St. Peter Port
parsonage, suspected of having committed suicide by shooting
himself with an arquebus. This having been proved according to the
law, the Court, after hearing the speech made by Her Majesty’s
Procureur, found that the said Robert Asheley shall be carried to
some unfrequented spot and there buried, a heap of stones being
placed on his body,[149] and thus he shall be deprived of burial in
the spot where Christian remains are placed; and that all his goods
shall be confiscate to Her Majesty the Queen.

[149] Editor’s Note.—See in “Hamlet,” where the priest refuses

Christian burial to Ophelia as a suicide, and commands:—“Shards,
flints, and pebbles should be thrown upon her.”
It has been conjectured that these heaps of stones were placed
upon graves, more especially of criminals and suicides, to keep
the spirit in the earth, and prevent the ghost from walking. Hence
the modern gravestone.

25th February, 1583.

 Collas de la Rue is accused of using the arts of witchcraft, and of
grievously vexing and tormenting divers subjects of Her Majesty.
Matthieu Cauchez deposed that his wife being in a pining
languorous condition, having heard that Collas de la Rue was a
wizard, and knowing that he frequently visited his house, he asked
him if he could help his wife. Collas replied:—
“As to her she is an ‘in pace’ (sic), she will not live much longer.”
De la Rue came to the place where his wife lay ill, and caused the
bed to be reversed, putting the bolster at the foot; she died three
hours afterwards.
James Blanche affirmed that having failed in a promise he had
made to De la Rue, the latter swore he should repent. His wife soon
afterwards became swollen all over, in which state she remained for
some considerable time. He finally went to De la Rue, and consulted
him as to how to cure his wife, and he gave him a decoction of
herbs to be used as a drink, by which his wife was cured.
Thomas Behot deposed that on returning from fishing, he refused
to give some fish to the son of Collas De la Rue. The son said he
was a “false villain,” and complained to his father, who on that said,
“Tais-toy, il n’en peschera plus guères.” (“Be quiet, he will not catch
many more.”) That same day he was taken ill, and became so
swollen that he could not rest between his sheets—(en ses draps).
After having been ill for a long time, his wife unsewed his mattress
and found therein several sorts of grains, such as broom, “alisandre”
“nocillons” or “nerillons de fèves,” (black beans?), the treadles of
sheep, pieces of laurel, rags with feathers stuck into them,[150] and
several other things. His wife threw it all into the fire, and such an
awful smell arose from the flames that they were obliged to leave
the room, and immediately his swelling disappeared. The same day
he was taken with such violent pains that he thought his last hour
was come. Whereupon his wife put the key of their front door in the
fire, and, as soon as it began to get red hot, Collas de la Rue, who
had not been invited, and who had not put foot inside their house
for six years, arrived there before sunrise, and said that he would
undertake to cure him, but that it would be a lengthy operation, that
he would have to refer to a book that he had at home, by which he
had cured several people, Matthieu Cauchez among others, and that
also he (the witness) would be cured. So Collas made him some
poultices of herbs, but they did not cure him. With great difficulty he
dragged himself to St. Martin’s Church (au temple de St. Martin),
where De la Rue said to him:—
“I am glad to see you here, and yet not entirely glad, for you are
not yet cured.”
When the deponent replied that he soon hoped to be on the sea
again, De la Rue replied:
“Do not go, for you will not return without great danger.” (“N’y vas
pas, car à grand’ peine en reviendras tu.”)
However, he persisted in going, and encountered such bad
weather that he and all the crew were nearly drowned. And
returning very ill, and his malady continuing, his wife again unsewed
his mattress and there found an image made of a bone-like
substance and apparently all gnawed, (d’une manière d’os tout
rongé) which he took to the magistrates, and afterwards got better.
Collas De la Rue also told him that Collas Rouget had gone to
Normandy to seek a cure. Had he only consulted him first, he need
not have gone so far to be cured. In conclusion he said that on his
conscience he believed and affirmed the said De la Rue to be a
wizard.
Richard de Vauriouf deposed that having had several differences
with Collas De la Rue on the subject of his cattle, which had caused
him annoyance, De la Rue said to him:
“You are very strong and active, but before long you will not be
thus, and you will be humbled after another manner.” (“Tu es bien
robuste et fort, mais avant qu’il soit guères ce ne sera pas ainsy, et
tu seras autrement abaissé.”)
 Very soon afterwards the said Vauriouf was taken ill, and so was
one of his daughters, and he was weak and languishing for more
than a month.
Pierre Tardif, who had had some law-suits with Collas De la Rue,
deposed that thereupon his daughter was taken ill, and her mattress
being searched they found several … (here and in various places the
record is torn) … of several kinds, and being … made principally of a
coloured silken thread and of … of broom, of beans cut up, two of
them being black … a pin stuck in a piece of rag and … After having
taken advice he (Tardif) had thrashed De la Rue … after having
given him two knock-down blows, his daughter was all right again.
After which she was again taken ill, so he searched for De la Rue,
and, having found him, he again thrashed him, this time drawing
blood, and shortly after that his daughter was cured. In conclusion
he also deposed upon oath his belief that De la Rue was a wizard.

“Royal Court House in 1880.”

… deposed as to having heard Collas De la Rue say that he had
means to silence those who spoke ill of him (“qu’il avait des moyens
de faire taire ceux qui parloient mal de luy.”)
(The record is here again torn, and the trial apparently did not
conclude, but in 1585 the proceedings against Collas De la Rue were
recommenced and many of the same witnesses appeared).

[150] Editor’s Note.—In a letter called “Voudouism in Virginia,”

quoted by Mr. Moncure D. Conway in his book on Demonology
and Devil-Lore, Vol. I., p. 69., the following similar superstition is
noticed. “If an ignorant negro is smitten with a disease which he
cannot comprehend, he often imagines himself the victim of
witchcraft, and, having no faith in ‘white folks’ physic’ for such
ailments, must apply to one of these quacks. A physician residing
near this city (Richmond), was invited by such a one to witness
his mode of procedure with a dropsical patient for whom the
physician in question had occasionally charitably prescribed. On
the coverlet of the bed on which the sick man lay, was spread a
quantity of bones, feathers and other trash. The charlatan went
through with a series of so-called conjurations, burned feathers,
hair, and tiny fragments of wood in a charcoal furnace, and
mumbled gibberish past the physician’s comprehension. He then
proceeded to rip open the pillows and bolsters, and took from
them some queer conglomerations of feathers. These he said had
caused all the trouble. Sprinkling a whitish powder over them he
burnt them in his furnace. A black offensive smoke was produced,
and he announced triumphantly that the evil influence was
destroyed and that the patient would surely get well. He died not
many days later, believing, in common with all his friends and
relatives, that the conjurations of the ‘trick doctor’ had failed to
save him only because resorted to too late.”

The Trial of Collas de la Rue resumed.

17th December, 1585.

Collas Hugues appeared in person and showed his child to us in

the Court. This said child cannot talk except at random and with an
impediment in its speech that none can cure; and he declares his
conviction that his said child is “detained” (detenu) by some wizard,
and he will take his oath that it is Collas De la Rue who “detains”
him, inasmuch that the latter threatened him that he would afflict
him through his most precious treasure (du plus cher joyau qu’il
peut avoir). On this declaration, Her Majesty’s Procureur testified to
us that the said De la Rue had formerly been imprisoned for sorcery,
and now, that though he had not always been proved guilty, yet that
to all outward appearance he had practised the art of witchcraft, and
so much so, that new complaints being made against him, he had
demanded the arrest and the confiscation of the goods of the said
De la Rue, which was granted.
On the 25th of December an investigation was ordered.

December, 1585.

James Blanche affirms that on a certain day, having promised to

go for a day’s work to the aforesaid De la Rue, and not having done
so, that he was heard to say to one of his people, that he, Blanche,
should repent, and that soon afterwards his wife was seized with an
illness which lasted for nearly a year. So that, finding the said De la
Rue near “La Croix Guerin,”[151] he asked him if he could give him
something to cure his wife. Then the said De la Rue took an apple,
which he broke into six parts, of which he retained one, and gave
the remaining five pieces to the said Blanche to carry back to his
wife, forbidding him at the same time to eat a mouthful.
Notwithstanding, when he quitted De la Rue, he ate the said apple,
and at that moment the said De la Rue appeared before him, he
having not yet reached his own house, and taxed him with having
eaten the forbidden apple, and the same day his wife was cured. He,
Blanche, says that this is a man given to threats, and is much
suspected and generally denounced as being a wizard, and he has
even heard that people have called him “sorcier” to his face and he
has not resented it.
 [151] Editor’s Note.—The old name for the cross roads at St.
Martin’s, near where the village Post Office now stands.

December, 1585.

Jehennet des Perques deposed that at divers times the said Collas
De la Rue went to the fishermen and foretold to them when they
should have fine weather and when they should have storms.… He
was commonly reported to be a wizard. He also deposed that on a
certain day, he being at the house of Collas Henry, where the said
De la Rue had quarrelled with the wife of Collas de Bertran, who had
called him “sorcier” (wizard), he threatened her that she should
repent, and that the said Mrs. de Bertran fell in descending the stairs
(cheut aval les degrez) and bruised herself from head to foot.
Several witnesses depose that Collas De la Rue is a man much
given to threats, that various persons have fallen ill after having
been threatened by him, and that he cured them at his will.
He was sent back to prison.
It appears that Collas De la Rue was executed, for, in a lawsuit
against Denis de Garis for concealing a treasure that he had found in
his house, it is said that the aforesaid treasure was found on the day
of Collas De la Rue’s execution, that is to say the 25th of March,
1585-6.

24th November, 1602.

Marie Roland is accused of sorcery.

John Sohier witnesses that the aforesaid Marie, having been with
him one day at the house of the Henry’s, together with Joan Henry,
whose child lay ill, she confessed to having bewitched the child, and
on being asked in what manner, said that she had put its clothes one
night by the stream (auprès du douit) and that she and her master
the Devil then entered into the house of the said Henry by the
chimney, and found the said child by the hearth, and with a splinter
she pricked the child, and it was bewitched for three months.

10th April, 1613.

An inquest on the suspicions of witchcraft against Olivier Omont,

Cecile Vaultier, his wife, and Guillemine Omont, their daughter.
Jacques Bailleul deposed that having refused alms to Olivier
Omont his son was taken with a pain in his ear which lasted twenty-
four hours, that the doctor said that he could not understand it (qu’il
n’y connaissait rien), that he believes that Olivier is a wizard.
Guillemine Le Pastourell affirms that Omont came begging from
her, and she said that he was stronger than her and that he could
gain his bread if necessary without begging, that the next day she
was taken ill, that she remained ill for three weeks, that Omont,
having come again, gave her some bread, and after that she
recovered. During her illness all her cattle died. She believed it was
from some spell cast by the said Omont.
Marie Sohier witnesses that the day after the death of her
husband Olivier Omont came to her house demanding bread. She
replied that having numerous children to feed she could not spare
him any, that he went away grumbling. At that very moment her
daughter Marguerite, aged six years, was taken ill, and when they
gave her some bread she threw it away and ate cinders by the
handful. That her daughter Marie, one year old, was taken ill one
hour after the departure of Omont, and she had remained ill for two
years. That having met Omont at the Mont Durand she threatened
to throw a stone at him, and called him “sorcier,” that on returning
home she gave a lump of white bread to her child, who ate it all,
and since then is quite well. She believes that the said Omont was
the cause of the sickness of her children.
Philippin Le Goubey witnesses that Olivier Omont having begged
for cider from his wife, she refused him, and was instantly afflicted
with grievous pains; that he entreated the said Omont several times
to come into his house to see his wife, but that he always refused;
that one day he forced him to enter, and he put one foot in the
house and the other out, and then he fled; that rushing after him he
threatened to denounce him to justice if he would not cure his wife;
that then he said that she would be well again in a fortnight, but
that he could not cure her at that moment; that he forced him to
return to the house, and that, when there, he threatened to keep
him there until he was delivered up to justice; that at that very
moment his wife was cured of the worst of her pains; that having
shortly afterwards come into the town to make a notification of
these things, he found that the said Omont had already taken a boat
and fled from the country.
Pierre Simon, of Torteval, being at the Hougue Antan,[152] met
Olivier Omont lying with his face against the ground. He tried to
awake him, shook him, and heard a buzzing (un bourdonnement)
but saw nothing. Feeling rather frightened he left him and went on
towards the Buttes[153] of Torteval, and then came back to the place
where he had left him. Omont suddenly awoke, having his mouth full
of mud, and his face all disfigured (défiguré). Omont having been
questioned replied that he had fallen from the cliff, and that Pierre
Nant had seen him fall.
Several people witnessed that having refused alms to Omont and
to his wife, their cattle fell ill and died, their cows gave blood instead
of milk, or gave nothing at all, their sows and their cows miscarried,
and misfortunes happened to their wives.

[152] This is a hill at Torteval, on which, says Mr. Métivier, our

ancestors used to light signal fires near the “Hougue Hérault,”
where the northern King Herolt made his signals. He says the
name is derived from the Breton An Tat, “the old Father,” a name
for the God of the Gauls; in Swedish it is Anda, the spirit, or
Onda, the evil one. See Notes in Rimes Guernesiaises.
 [153] These were the mounds of earth where they practised
with the cross-bow before the introduction of muskets. The
“Buttes” still exist in some parishes.

29th June, 1613.

Thomas Mancell witnessed that his wife having refused alms to

Omont, their cow fell ill, and they were obliged to kill it. Jean
Hamon, who flayed the cow, cut it at the shoulder, and “there issued
a black beast as large as a little ‘cabot’ (a small fish). Its throat was
such that one could easily insert the tip of one’s little finger, and it
had two little wings” (“en sortit une beste noire, grosse comme un
petit cabot, dans la gueule duquell on aurait bien mis le bout du
petit doigt et avait deulx petites ailes.”)
Jean Le Feyvre, of the Mielles,[154] witnesseth that one morning
he found Cécile, wife of Omont, near the Chapelle de l’Epine, where
she was searching, he could not tell for what, and where she
remained for a long while without his being able to perceive that she
found anything, and she did not perceive that he was watching her;
and he having asked her shortly afterwards whether it was she that
he had observed at such an hour near the chapel, she denied it, and
that afterwards he asked her again whether it was she who was in
that neighbourhood, and she replied in the affirmative, and then he
started fine rumours, (ung beau bruit) saying that she was dancing
on the thorn which grows in the aforesaid neighbourhood.

[154] Mielles, in Normandy, Brittany, and the Channel Islands,

means the “waste lands on the sea-shore.” In the Vale parish
alone there were two estates called “Les Mielles.” See Métivier’s
Dictionary, Mielles.

29th May, 1613.

 Thomasse, wife of Collas Troussey, deposes that one night, her
husband being on guard at the Castle, she was awakened by a
frightful noise, like cats squalling, and she dared not cry out on
account of Olivier Omont, who was sleeping in the same corridor as
herself, though the miauling of the cats still continued. When her
husband was returned from his patrol, she dared ask Omont if he
had not heard the cats, to which he replied Yes, but there was
nothing for her to be afraid of, that they would do her no harm. That
another night, her husband being also there, she had heard Omont
call “Cats! cats!” and on asking him if he had cats in his wallet (en
son bisac,) he replied “No,” and that the noise seemed beneath
where she lay, but that he was afraid that they would eat the fish
that was on the table.
Olivier Omont, his wife and daughter, were all banished from the
island.

30th June, 1613.

An enquiry was held on Laurence L’Eustace, wife of Thomas Le

Comte, suspected of being a witch.
Jean Hallouvris witnesses that for four years he has driven his
cart. As the wheels passed close to Laurence she dropped several
strings and twists of rushes (quelques colliers et nattes de pavie)
[155] that she was carrying, at which she was very angry. Two days
afterwards, one of his bullocks set off running as if it were mad, and
then fell down stone dead, and the other bullock died the next day.
 “High Street, 1850.”

Sketched from an Old Picture by the late Mr. A. C.

Andros.

Pierre Machon deposes that he has heard Laurence swear “By

God’s ten fingers” (“Par les dix doigts de Dieu”), and with oaths and
blasphemies call devils to her assistance.
Christine, wife of Pierre Jehan, says that her first husband, Collas
Henry, having had a quarrel with Laurence Le Comte, one of their
children, aged two years, was taken with an illness which lasted for
twelve months. When the attack first came on, he jumped high into
the air, that, before being taken ill he walked very well, but that
afterwards, all that year he crawled on his hands and knees. That,
having had a quarrel with the said Laurence, and having put some
curds to cool, (des caillebottes à refroidir), she found them the next
day just like bits of rag (que de la mêque), and that on the following
Monday the child was seized with terror, and cried out that someone
was pulling his nose. That, as soon as she went to Laurence’s house,
the child got better, but, on her return, fell ill again, and finally died.
Laurence L’Eustache, wife of Thomas Le Comte, was also banished
from the island.
On the 17th of May, 1617, began the trial of Collette du Mont,
widow of Jean Becquet, Marie, her daughter, wife of Pierre Massy,
and Isebel Becquet, wife of Jean Le Moygne.
James Gallienne witnesses that one day, having quarrelled with
Jean Le Moigne, husband of the aforesaid Isebell, the said Le
Moigne said to him:—
“You are always seeking to pick quarrels with me, and you say
that my wife is a witch, but before six months are over you will be
very glad to come and implore me to help you;” that immediately his
wife fell into a lingering illness, and, doubting not but that it was the
effect of a spell, opened all the mattresses and found all kinds of
filth and bits of feather, which he has showed to several people; and
in some quite new pillows which he had at home he found a large
quantity of worms. He says that about six years ago, one of his
children being ill, he was putting a pillow under his head, found it
hard, and, on unripping it, found it full of dirt. While they unsewed it
they heard a flapping noise as of the wings of a cock, and the said
child declared that he saw this cock; that, having shut all the doors,
they tried to find what it really was, and that, having hunted and
ransacked the house, they saw first a rat, then a weasel, which
slipped through the holes of the pavement (sortit par les pertius de
la dalle). And at the end of two or three days he was asked why he
had beaten the said Isebell Becquet. He replied that he had not
touched her, and soon after that he was advised to try whether she
was a witch, by putting the key of his front door (de son grand huis)
in the fire, which he did. When the said key had been nearly two
days in the fire the said woman arrived at his house, without asking
whether he were at home, and begged of him seven to nine (sept à
neuf) things which he refused her, she wishing at all hazards to
come in further (entrer plus outre) to see the sick child, which he
would not allow.
Item. Deposeth that his wife having rebuked the said Isebell
because her children annoyed those of the said Gallienne, she went
away very vexed, and the next day one of his oxen broke its neck,
his mare miscarried, and his wife was taken ill.
Item; that the children of the said Isebell said one day to the
children of the said Gallienne, that if their mother was ill it was
because she had spoken rudely; that some time afterwards, Mrs.
Gallienne being in bed in her room, the door being shut and simply a
sky-light (une luquerne sic, lucarne) open, she felt something like a
cat, which, little by little, crept on her chest as she lay on her bed.
Having shaken it to the ground, she heard one or two growls, on
which, astonished, she began to threaten it that if it was a wizard or
a witch she would cut it to pieces (que le couperoit en pièces), it
returned by the said sky-light.
Thomas Sohier said that Jean Jehan having summoned him to
come and make his will, he complained that the said Isebell was
killing him for having refused to make a jacket for her son. That
some little time afterwards James Gallienne, having a sick daughter,
caused her bed to be unripped, out of which came a sort of animal
like a rat (une manière de bête comme un rat), which hid itself in
some wood and was hunted for throughout the house; that on the
following day, having met the said Isebell, he noticed her face all
torn (déchiré sic). On asking her the cause she said it was from “du
mal d’Espagne,” (cantharides, the Spanish fly used for making
blisters); that on that he asked James Gallienne if he had not beaten
her, who replied in the negative; that, being the other day at the
house of the said Gallienne, giving evidence to this, his wife fell
down as if dead, and on returning to consciousness, said that she
was bewitched.
Item. Testifies that in the bed of the aforesaid daughter (of
Gallienne), were found twenty-one or twenty-two spells (sorcerons).
[156]

Many other depositions told the same story. Oxen and calves died,
cows and mares miscarried, sheep fell dead, children and women
were taken ill, no cream was found on the milk, curds would not
“make,” cows dried up, or only gave blood. Worms were bred in the
beds, or even under the women’s caps. They were black at both
ends, or sometimes had two heads. Frogs and black beasts (des
bêtes noires) haunted the paths of the bewitched persons. Fountains
were full of insects, black pimples appeared all over the bodies of
the afflicted persons, and lice, in such abundance that they had to
use a broom to sweep them away. On the witch being threatened
the sick person recovered.
The trial was resumed on the 6th June, 1617.
Marie, wife of James Gallienne … deposed … Item; that for nearly
ten years her eldest daughter Rachel had been bewitched; that,
having unsewed her mattress, by which was some straw,[157]
something was seen lurking in the said straw, and Jean Le Gallez,
being present, said that it looked to him like a black cat, and
sometimes like a cock, and then like a mouse, and then like a rat,
that it—whatever it was—hid in some wood which was in the house,
which was immediately rummaged and moved, but no one knew
how to capture it (ne sçurent tant faire que de le prendre). That her
husband saw it like a cock, and her daughter like a mouse; that on
opening the mattress they found within it many spells (force
sorcerons) and also beans with which were mingled black grains as if
mildewed,[158] which beans or grains having been put in a porringer
(une écuelle) in the presence of various women who were there, it
dissolved in their presence, and they did not know what became of it
(cela fondit en leur presence et ne sçurent que devint.) That the said
Isabell, having come to the house at the end of two or three days,
and asking for seven or nine sorts of things, and trying to force an
entrance into the place where the child was lying ill, all which things
were refused her by her husband, so she then went away, and her
face was all cut; and went to her husband and said that she would
not stay while Isebell Becquet was there, and she believes that she
is a witch.
On the 4th of July, 1617, these three women, Collette Dumont,
widow of Jean Becquet, Marie, her daughter, wife of Pierre Massy,
and Isebell Becquet, wife of Jean le Moigne, were convicted by the
Royal Court of Guernsey of having practised the damnable art of
sorcery, and of having thereby caused the death of many persons,
destroyed and injured much cattle, and done many other evil deeds.
They were condemned to be tied to a stake, strangled, and burnt
until their bodies were totally consumed; and their ashes to be
scattered abroad. The sentence added that, previous to execution,
they were to be put to the torture[159] in order to force them to
declare the names of their accomplices.
First, the said Collette, immediately after the said sentence had
been rendered, and before leaving the Court, freely acknowledged
that she was a witch, but would not particularise the crimes which
she had committed; whereupon she was conducted with the others
to the torture-house, and, being put to the question, confessed that
the Devil, when she was still young, appeared to her in the form of a
cat,[160] in the parish of Torteval, it being yet day, as she was
returning from tending her cattle; that he prevailed upon her by
inviting her to revenge herself on one of her neighbours with whom
she was on bad terms in consequence of some injury done to her by
his cattle; that on subsequent occasions, when she had quarrelled
with anyone, he again appeared to her in the same form, and
sometimes in that of a dog, inducing her to revenge herself against
those with whom she was displeased, and persuading her to cause
the death of men and beasts; that the Devil having come to invite
her to the Sabbath, called her, without its being perceived by others,
and gave her a certain black ointment,[161] with which, having
stripped, she rubbed her body nearly all over, and, having dressed
herself again and gone out of doors, she was immediately carried
through the air with great velocity to the place where the Sabbath
was held, which was sometimes near the Torteval parish churchyard,
and sometimes on the sea-shore near Rocquaine Castle; that, being
arrived there, she met frequently as many as fifteen or sixteen
wizards and witches, with devils, who were there in the form of
dogs, cats, and hares; that she could not recognise the wizards and
witches, because they were all blackened and disfigured, although
she heard the Devil evoke them by name, and remembers among
others, the wives Calais and Hardy. She confesses also that at the
opening of the Sabbath, the Devil, in making the evocation, began
sometimes by her name; that her daughter Marie, wife of Massy, at
present under condemnation for the same crime, is a witch, and that
she has taken her twice to the Sabbath with her. She does not know
where the Devil has marked her. She says that at the Sabbath they
adored the Devil, who stood upon his hind legs … in the form of a
dog, that afterwards they danced back to back, and after having
danced they drank wine, but of what colour she does not know,
which the Devil poured out of a flagon into a silver or pewter goblet;
but that the wine did not seem so good as that which is usually
drunk, that they also ate white bread, which the Devil presented to
them, but that she has never seen any salt[162] at the Sabbath.
 “Castle Cornet, 1660.”

She confesses that the Devil had charged her to call in on her way
for Isebell Le Moigne, when she went to the Sabbath, and that she
has done so several times; that on leaving the Sabbath the Devil
invited her to perpetrate many evils, and that, for this purpose he
gave her certain black powders, which he ordered her to throw on
such persons and beasts as she pleased; and that with this powder
she did much evil, which she cannot now call to mind, but she
remembers that she threw some over Mr. Dolbel, the minister of the
parish, and by this means was the cause of his death. With the same
powder she bewitched the wife of Jean Manguès, but denies that
her death was caused by it. She says that she touched the side, and
threw some of this powder on the wife,[163] since deceased, of Mr.
Perchard, who succeeded Mr. Dolbel as minister of the parish,
thereby causing her death and that of her unborn babe. She cannot
say what offence the deceased had given her. She says that on the
refusal of Collas Tostevin’s wife to give her some milk, she caused
her cow to run dry by throwing some of the powder over it, but that
she cured the cow afterwards by giving it bran mixed with grass,
which the Devil had given her, to eat.
 The confession of her daughter Marie, wife of Pierre Massy, is
much to the same effect, with this exception, that she seems to
have been in the habit of meeting the Devil in the form of a dog,
and that he changed her into an animal of the same species at the
time of their interviews.
The third of these unfortunate wretches, Isebell, wife of Jean Le
Moigne, enters, in her confession, into some additional details.
It was in the semblance of a hare, and in broad daylight, that the
Devil appeared to her for the first time, and incited her to avenge
herself on her sister-in-law, La Girarde, with whom she had
quarrelled. At first she resisted the tempter, but he appeared to her
a second time, again in the road next her house, and on this
occasion left with her a packet of black powder, which she kept. A
third time the demon appeared, in the same form, urging her, if she
would not give herself to him, to make him a present of some living
animal, whereupon she gave him a chicken, and he appointed her to
meet him the next day before sunrise at the Sabbath, promising to
send someone to guide her there. Accordingly old Collette Dumont
came that night to her house, and gave her some black ointment,
with which she rubbed herself. She was then carried over hedges
and ditches to the place of meeting near Rocquaine Castle. She was
received and welcomed by the Devil in the form of a dog, with long
erect horns (avec de grandes cornes dressées en hautt), and hands
like those of a man. He caused her to go down on her knees and
renounce the Almighty in these words: “I deny God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Ghost.” (“Je renie Dieu le Père, Dieu le
Fils, et Dieu le Saint Esprit”). After this, she was made to adore the
Devil and invoke him in these terms: “Our great Master, help us!”
(“Nostre grand Maistre, aide nous!”) and also to enter into an
express covenant to adhere to his service. At the conclusion of this
ceremony, the same acts of license, dancing and drinking (again
bread and wine in mockery of the Holy Sacrament), took place as
are described by Collette Dumont, widow Becquet, in her confession.
On this occasion Isebell Le Moigne entered into a pact with Satan for
one month only; but subsequently the agreement was extended to
three years. She stated that Satan treated Collette Dumont with
marked respect, always evoking her name first, styling her
“Madame, la vieille Becquette,” and giving her a place by his side.
She also said that one night, when she was at the Sabbath, the Devil
marked her on the thigh. The mark thus made having been
examined by women appointed for that purpose, they certified that
they had thrust pins deep into it, and that Isebell felt no pain
therefrom, nor did any blood follow when the pins were withdrawn.
According to her account, the Devil appeared occasionally in the
form of a he-goat, and when they took leave of him, they all had to
kiss him, that he inquired of them when they would return, and
exhorted them to adhere to him and do all the evil in their power. He
then took them all by the hand and they departed in different
directions. She asserted also that it was the Devil who had been
seen in the forms of a rat and a stoat in the house of James
Gallienne, whose child she had bewitched; that she was in the
neighbourhood of the house at the time; and that the Devil, having
resumed the form of a man, came to her and beat her severely
about the head and face, which ill-treatment she attributed to her
having refused to go with him to Gallienne’s house. She said that
she never went to the Sabbath except when her husband was gone
out to sea for the night, fishing.
The depositions of the witnesses, taken down very minutely in the
three cases above cited and in many others of a similar nature, have
been preserved, and throw a good deal of light on the popular ideas
of the day in respect to sorcerers and their doings.

[155] Editor’s Note.—Pavie used to be grown in ponds arranged

for the purpose, and was used for making pack-saddles, horse-
collars, mats, etc. It is a reed.—From John de Garis, Esq.
[156] Editor’s Note.—(See footnote to p. 308). Some had a
goat’s hair intwined, others a flaxen thread.
Mr. J. Linwood Pitts, in his pamphlet on Witchcraft in the
Channel Islands, points out, page 6, “that the natural tendency of
wool and feathers to felt and clog together, has been distorted,
by widely different peoples, into an outward and visible sign that
occult and malignant influences were at work.”
[157] Editor’s Note.—“Il y avoit de l’etrain”—a Guernsey-French
word—from the old French estraîn, estraine, lat. strannu.—See
Métivier’s Dictionary “Etrain.”
[158] Editor’s Note.—“Des graines noires comme de la neisle”
(an old French word nêle, from Latin Nigella.)—Métivier’s
Dictionary “Néle.”
[159] Editor’s Note.—The manner in which torture was
administered in Guernsey is thus described by Warburton, herald
and antiquary, temp. Charles II., in his Treatise on the History,
Laws and Customs of the Island of Guernsey, 1682, page 126.
“By the law approved (Terrien, Lib. XII, Cap. 37), torture is to
be used, though not upon slight presumption, yet where the
presumptive proof is strong, and much more when the proof is
positive, and there wants only the confession of the party
accused. Yet this practice of torturing does not appear to have
been used in the Island for some ages, except in the case of
witches, when it was too frequently applied, near a century since.
The custom then was, when any person was supposed guilty of
sorcery or witchcraft, they carried them to a place in the town
called La Tour Beauregard, and there, tying their hands behind
them by the two thumbs, drew them to a certain height, with an
engine made for that purpose, by which means sometimes their
shoulders were turned round, and sometimes their thumbs torn
off; but this fancy of witches has for some years been laid aside.”
[160] Editor’s Note.—Mary Osgood, one of the “Salem Witches”
tried in 1692, confessed that “when in a melancholy condition she
saw the appearance of a cat at the end of the house, which cat
proved to be the Devil himself.” See Demonology and Devil-Lore,
Vol. II., p. 315.
[161] The Witches’ Sabbath being a travesty of all Christian
holy rites and ceremonies, the “black ointment” evidently
represented the chrism.
[162] Editor’s Note.—“It is an example of the completeness and
consistency with which a theory may organise its myth, that the
fatal demons are generally represented as abhorring salt,—the
preserving agent against decay.… The Devil, as heir of death-
demons, appears in all European folk-lore as a hater of salt.”
Demonology and Devil-Lore, by Moncure Conway, Vol. I., p. 288.
 [163] Editor’s Note.—Susanne de Quetteville, daughter of
Jehannet de Quetteville and his wife Colliche de Sausmarez, was
born in 1586, married the Rev. Jean Perchard in 1611, and died in
1612.

Wizards and Witches.

There are some families in Guernsey whose members have the

reputation of being sorcerers from their birth. These individuals
require no initiation into the diabolic mysteries of the “Sabbat,” Satan
claiming them as his own from the very cradle. They are, however,
furnished by him with a familiar, generally in the shape of a fly, so
that the phrase “avoir une mouque” is well understood as meaning
that the person of whom it is said is one of the infernal fraternity.
Indeed, in talking of persons who are addicted to magical arts, it is
reckoned highly imprudent to speak of them as “sorciers” or
“sorcières,” or to call them by the now almost-forgotten name of
“Quéraud.”[164] By so doing you give offence, and, what is of still
more consequence, you put it in their power to injure you. It is,
however, quite safe to speak of them as “gens du Vendredi,”[165] or
“gens du hoc.”[166]
Satan does not always wait for their death to claim their souls as
his own, but sometimes carries them off bodily; and a former
schoolmaster of the Vale, who, from his eccentricities, had acquired
the reputation of being a wizard, having disappeared mysteriously,
and having never been seen again, is commonly believed, to this
day, to have been spirited away.
Those who are born sorcerers have the faculty of transporting
themselves at will wherever they please, but those who seek
admission into the fraternity, and are initiated into the diabolical
rites, are furnished by their infernal master with a certain ointment
with which they anoint every part of their bodies before undertaking
their aerial journeys. They are also supposed to be able to introduce
themselves at night through the chinks and crevices of the buildings
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