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obedience, devoting themselves body and soul to him; sometimes only the
soul, however, is mentioned: but the Scotch witches of both sexes laid one
hand on the crown of the head, the other on the sole of the foot, and
dedicated all that was between the two hands to the service of the
Master.[5] There is a slight variation of this ceremony at Dalkeith in 1661,
where the Devil laid his hand upon Jonet Watson's head, 'and bad her "give
all ower to him that was vnder his hand", and shoe did so'.[6]
In Southern France the candidates, after renouncing their old faith,
'prennent Satan pour leur pere et protecteur, & la Diablesse pour leur
mere'.[7] At Lille the children called the ceremony the Dedication,[8]
showing that the same rite obtained there.
[1. De Lancre, Tableau, p. 182.
2. Id. ib., p. 131.
3. Horneck, pt. ii, p. 322.
4. Danaeus, ch. ii, E 1.
5. Lord Fountainhall mentions a case where a pregnant woman excepted the
unborn child, at which the devil was very angry. Decisions, i, p. 14.
6. Pitcairn, iii, p. 601.
7. De Lancre, Tableau, p. 123.
8. Bourinon, Vie, p. 214; Hale, p. 31.]
4. The Covenant
The signing of a covenant does not occur in every case and was probably a
late introduction. Forbes, as quoted above, gives the contract between the
Devil and his follower, with the part which each engages to perform. In
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Somerset the witches signed whether they could write or not, those who could
not write putting a cross or circle as their mark.'
The free consent of the candidate is a point always insisted on, and by the
confessions of the witches themselves the consent was often not merely
freely but actually willingly given. Isobel Crawford of the Irvine Coven in
1618 was accused that the devil 'come to hir awin dur in similitud of ane
blak man, and prommeist, gif sche wold be his servand, sche sould have geir
aneuch, and sould not want. Quhairunto sche was ever reddy to accord.'[2]
Little Jonet Howat said that the Devil 'bade her renounce her God, and she
answered, Marry, shall I.'[3] In the dittay against Christian Grieve, it is
stated that 'Sathan desired you to be his servant whilk ye willingly granted
to be . . . And sicklike the minister posing you upon the foresaid
particulars especially anent the renunciation of your Baptism, ye answered
that Sathan speired at you if ye would do it and ye answered "I warrand did
I."'[4] Bessie Henderson and Janet Brugh, of the same Coven, acknowledged
the same. To the former 'the Devil appeared and asked you gif you would be
his servant whilk ye freely and instantly accepted and granted thereto'.[5]
Janet Brugh was rather more emphatic: 'Sathan desired you to be his servant
whilk ye willingly promised to be and likeways desired you to renounce your
baptism whilk ye willingly did.'[6]
The written contract appealed very strongly to the legal minds of the judges
and magistrates, and it is therefore often mentioned, but in Great Britain
there is no record of the actual wording of any individual covenant; the
Devil seems to have kept the parchment, paper, or book in his own custody.
In France, however, such contracts occasionally fell into the
[1. Glanvil, ii, pp. 136,148.
2. Isobel Inch, p. 16.
3. Kinloch, p. 125. Spelling modernized.
4. Burns Begg, p. 239.
5. Id., pp. 223-4.
6. Id., p. 237.]
hands of the authorities; the earliest case being in 1453, when Guillaume
Edeline, Prior of St. Germain-en-Laye, signed a compact with the Devil,
which compact was afterwards found upon his person.' The witch Stevenote de
Audebert, who was burnt in January 1619, showed de Lancre 'le pacte &
conuention qu'elle auoit faict auec le Diable, escrite en sang de menstruës,
& si horrible qu'on auoit horreur de la regarder'.[2]
The contract was said to be signed always in the blood of the witch, and
here we come to a confusion between the mark made on the person and the mark
made by the person. It seems clear that part of the ceremony of initiation
was the cutting of the skin of the candidate to the effusion of blood. This
is the early rite, and it seems probable that when the written contract came
into vogue the blood was found to be a convenient writing-fluid, or was
offered to the Devil in the form of a signature. This signing of a book
plays a great part in the New England trials.
The contract was usually for the term of the witch's life, but sometimes it
was for a term of years, the number of which varies considerably. As Scot
says, 'Sometimes their homage with their oth and bargaine is receiued for a
certeine terme of yeares; sometimes for ever.'[3] Popular belief assigns
seven years as the length of time, at the end of which period the Devil was
supposed to kill his votary. The tradition seems to be founded on fact, but
there is also a certain amount of evidence that the witch was at liberty to
discontinue or renew the contract at the end of the allotted term. Such a
renewal seems also to have been made on the appointment of a new Chief. In
France, England, and New England the term of years is mentioned; in Scotland
it is mentioned by the legal authorities, but from the fact that it occurs
seldom, if ever, in the trials it would seem that the contract of the Scotch
witches was for life.
Magdalene de la Croix, Abbess of a religious house in Cordova in 1545, made
a contract 'for the space of thirty years', she being then a girl of
twelve.[4] In Paris in 1571 'il
[1. Lea, iii, p. 536.
2. De Lancre, L'Incredulité, p. 38.
3. Reg. Scot, Bk. III, p. 41.
4. Pleasant Treatise, p. 88.]
y eut vn aduocat lequel confessa qu'il auoit passé l'obligation au Diable
renonceant à Dieu, & icelle signee de son propre sang. Encores s'est it
verifié par plusieurs procez, que l'obligation reciproque entre le diable, &
le sorcier, contient quelquesfois le terme d'vn an, deux ans, ou autre
temps." At Faversham in 1645 Joan Williford said 'that the Devil promised to
be her servant about twenty yeeres, and that the time is now almost
.
expired'.[2] In Huntingdonshire in 1646 Elizabeth Weed of Great Catworth
confessed that 'the Devill then offer'd her, that hee would doe what
mischiefe she should require him; and said she must covenant with him that
he must have her soule at the end of one and twenty years, which she
granted'.[3] In 1652 Giles Fenderlin of Leaven Heath was tried for that when
he was a soldier at Bell in Flanders he made a five-years' covenant with a
Jesuit; 'after the said five years was expired, in 1643 he renew'd the said
Covenant with the Jesuit for 14 years longer: whereupon he drew a Covenant
for him with the Devil, pricking the two fore-fingers of his right hand with
an needle, and drew bloud, wherewith he writ his name with his own bloud,
and then covenanted with the Devil, That if he should be safely protected
during the space Of 14 years aforesaid, while such time as it expired, that
then he was to take away, both body and soul as his own right and
interest.'[4] At Lille in 1661 Madame Bourignon's girls indicate the renewal
of the contract: 'The Devil gives them a Mark, which Marks they renew as
often as those Persons have any desire to quit him. The Devil reproves them
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