WITCHCRAFT

AND

DEVIL LORE

IN THE

CHANNEL ISLANDS

TRANSCRIPTS FROM THE OFFICIAL RECORDS OF THE GUERNSEY ROYAL COURT,WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION AND HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION.

BY

JOHN LINWOOD PITTS,

Membre de la Société des Antiquaires de Normandie.

Editor of "The Patois Poems of the Channel Islands;" "The Sermon onthe Mount and the Parable of the Sower, in the Franco-Norman Dialectsof Guernsey and Sark," &c., &c.

Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.

—Exodus xxii, 18.

Guernsey:

GUILLE-ALLÈS LIBRARY,

AND

THOMAS M. BICHARD, PRINTER TO THE STATES.

1886.

[Pg v]

TO

EDGAR MacCULLOCH, Esquire,

F.S.A., LONDON AND NORMANDY, AND MEMBER OF THE FOLKLORE SOCIETY,

BAILIFF OF GUERNSEY,

WHOSE HISTORICAL RESEARCHES HAVE TENDED SO MUCH TO ELUCIDATE THETIME-HONOURED CONSTITUTION

AND

ANCIENT CUSTOMS OF HIS NATIVE ISLAND,

THIS

BRIEF RECORD OF ONE OF THE DARKEST CHAPTERS IN ITS CHEQUERED ANNALS

IS DEDICATED

WITH SENTIMENTS OF THE HIGHEST RESPECT AND ESTEEM.

[Pg vi]

Venena magnum fas nefasque non valent Convertere humanamvicem.

Horace, Epod. V. 87-8.

[Pg vii]

FOREWORD.

In presenting to the public another little volume of the "Guille-AllèsLibrary Series," it affords me much pleasure to acknowledge variouskindnesses experienced during its preparation. From Edgar MacCulloch,Esq., F.S.A., Bailiff of Guernsey, I have received several valuablehints and suggestions bearing upon the subject; and also from F.J.Jérémie, Esq., M.A., Jurat of the Royal Court. I am also particularlyindebted to James Gallienne, Esq., Her Majesty's Greffier, for hisuniform kindness and courtesy in allowing the fullest access at alltimes to the Archives under his care, not only in respect to thesubject-matter of the present publication, but also in otherhistorical researches which I have wished to make. I am equallyobliged to Mr. E.M. Cohu and Mr. H.J.V. Torode, Deputy-Greffiers, andto Mr. A. Isemonger, Bailiff's Clerk, for various information and muchready help, which materially facilitated my investigations. All thesegentlemen have my cordial acknowledgments and best thanks.

J.L.P.

Guernsey, December, 1885.

Note.—The Seal represented on the title page isthat of the Guernsey Bailiwick. It was first granted byEdward I. in the seventh year of his reign (1279), and bearsthe inscription: ...