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with ane blue bonnet on his head with rough gray cloaths on him'.[2] Marie Lamont of Innerkip, also in 1662,
said that 'the devil was in the likeness of a meikle black man, and sung to them, and they dancit'; he appeared
again 'in the likeness of a black man with cloven featt'.[3] At Paisley, in 1678, the girl-witch Annabil Stuart
said that 'the Devil in the shape of a Black man came to her Mother's House'; her brother John was more
detailed in his description, he observed 'one of the black man's feet to be cloven: and that the black man's
Apparel was black; and that he had a bluish Band and Handcuffs; and that he had Hogers[4] on his Legs
without Shoes'; Margaret Jackson of the same Coven confirmed the description, 'the black man's Clothes
were black, and he had white Handcuffs'.[5] The clearest evidence is from an unpublished trial of 1678
among the records in the Justiciary Court in Edinburgh:
'Margaret Lowis declaires that about Elevin years ago a man whom she thought to be ane Englishman that
cured diseases in the countrey called [blank] Webb appeared to her in her own house and gave her a drink
and told her that she
[1. Pitcairn, iii, p. 603.
2. Burns Begg, pp. 221-39.
3. Sharpe, pp. 131, 134.
4. Hogers, a coarse stocking without the foot.
5. Glanvil, pt. ii, pp. 291-5, 297.]
would have children after the taking of that drink And declares that that man made her renunce her baptisme .
. . and declares that she thought that the man who made her doe these things wes the divill and that she has
hade severall meitings with that man after she knew him to be the divill. Margaret Smaill prisoner being
examined anent the Cryme of witchcraft depones that having come into the house of Jannet Borthvick in
Crightoun she saw a gentleman sitting with her, and they desyred her to sitt down and having sitten down the
gentleman drank to her and she drank to him and therefter the said Jannet Borthvick told her that that
gentleman was the divill and declares that at her desyre she renunced her baptisme and gave herself to the
2. As a Human Being. 20
The Witch Cult in Western Europe
divill.'
At Borrowstowness in 1679 Annaple Thomson 'had a metting with the devill in your cwming betwixt
Linlithgow and Borrowstownes, where the devil, in the lyknes of ane black man, told yow, that yow wis ane
poore puddled bodie . . . And yow the said Annaple had ane other metting, and he inveitted yow to go
alongst, and drink with him'. The same devil met Margaret Hamilton 'and conversed with yow at the
town-well of Borrowstownes, and several tymes in yowr awin howss, and drank severall choppens of ale
with you'.[1] The Renfrewshire trials of 1696 show that all Mrs. Fulton's grandchildren saw the same
personage; Elizabeth Anderson, at the age of seven, 'saw a black grim Man go in to her Grandmothers
House'; James Lindsay, aged fourteen, 'met his Grandmother with a black grim Man'; and little Thomas
Lindsay was awaked by his grandmother 'one Night out of his Bed, and caused him take a Black Grimm
Gentleman (as she called him) by the Hand'.[2] At Pittenweem, in 1704, 'this young Woman Isobel Adams
[acknowledged] her compact with the Devil, which she says was made up after this manner, viz. That being in
the House of the said Beatie Laing, and a Man at the end of the Table, Beatie proposes to Isobel, that since
she would not Fee and Hire with her, that she would do it, with the Man at the end of the Table; And
accordingly Isobel agreed to it, and spoke with the Man at that time in General terms. Eight days after, the
same Person in Appearance comes to her, and owns that
[1. Scots Magazine, 1814, p. 200.
2. Narrative of the Sufferings of a Young Girle, pp. xxxix-xli Sadd. Debell., pp. 38-40.]
he was the Devil.'[1] The latest instance is at Thurso in 1719, where the Devil met Margaret Nin-Gilbert 'in
the way in the likeness of a man, and engaged her to take on with him, which she consented to; and she said
she knew him to be the devil or he parted with her'.[2]
In Ireland one of the earliest known trials for ritual witchcraft occurred in 1324, the accused being the Lady
Alice Kyteler. She was said to have met the Devil, who was called Robin son of Artis, 'in specie cuiusdam
aethiopis cum duobus sociis ipso maioribus et longioribus'.[3]
In France also there is a considerable amount of evidence. The earliest example is in 143'0, when Pierronne, a
follower of Joan of Arc, was put to death by fire as a witch. She persisted to the end in her statement, which
she made on oath, that God appeared to her in human form and spoke to her as friend to friend, and that the
last time she had seen him he was clothed in a scarlet cap and a long white robe.[4] Estebene de Cambrue of
the parish of Amou in 1567 said that the witches danced round a great stone, 'sur laquelle est assis un grand
homme noir, qu'elles appellent Monsieur'.[5] Jeanne Hervillier of Verberie near Compiègne, in 1578,
daughter of a witch who had been condemned and burnt, 'confessa qu'à l'aage de douze ans sa mere la
presenta au diable, en forme d'vn grand homme noir, & vestu de noir, botté, esperonné, auec vne espée au
costé, & vn cheual noir à la porte'.[1], Françoise Secretain of Saint Claud in 1598 stated 'qu'elle s'estoit
donnée au Diable, lequel auoit lors la semblance d'vn grand homme noir'; Thievenne Paget, from the same
district, 'racontoit que le Diable s'apparut à elle la premiere fois en plein midy, en forme d'vn grand homme
noir'; and Antide Colas 'disoit, que Satan s'apparut à elle en forme d'vn homme, de grande stature, ayant sa
barbe & ses habillemens noirs'.[7] Jeanne d'Abadle, in the Basses-Pyrénées, 1609, 'dit qu'elle y vid le
[1. A true and full Relation of the Witches of Pittenweem, p. 10, Sinclair, p. lxxxix.
2. Sharpe, p. 191.
3. Camden Society, Lady Alice Kyteler, p. 3.
4. Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris, p. 687.
2. As a Human Being. 21
The Witch Cult in Western Europe
5. De Lancre, Tableau, p. 123.
6. Bodin, p. 226.
7. Boguet, pp. 8, 96].
Diable en forme d'homme noir & hideux, auec six cornes en la teste, parfois huict'.[1] Silvain Nevillon, tried
at Orleans in 1614, 'dit que le Sabbat se tenoit dans vne maison, où il vit à la cheminée com{m}e ledit Sabbat
se faisoit, vn homme noir, duquel on ne voyoit point la teste. Vit aussi vn grand homme noir à l'opposite de
celuy de la cheminée. Dit que les deux Diables qui estoient au Sabbat, l'vn s'appelloit l'Orthon, & l'autre
Traisnesac.'[2] Two sisters were tried in 1652: one 'dict avoir trouvé ung diable en ghuise d'ung home à pied';
the other said that 'il entra dans sa chambre en forme d'ung chat par une fenestre et se changea en la posture
d'un home vestu de rouge'.[3]
In Belgium, Digna Robert, 1565, met 'un beau jeune homme vètu d'une casaque noire, qui était le diable, et se
nommait Barrebon . . . À la Noël passée, un autre diable, nommé Crebas, est venu près d'elle.' Elisabeth
Vlamynx of Ninove in the Pays d'Alost, 1595, was accused 'que vous avez, avant comme après le repas, vous
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