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128
THE RITES

Et luy dist ladite vieillesse q ledit chat estoit le diable.'[1] Estebène de Cambrue, in 1567, described the ceremonies at the Sabbath: 'Ils se mettent à dancer à l'entour d'une pierre, sur laquelle est assis vn grand homme noir, qu'elles appellent Mõsieur, & chacun de l'assemblee luy va baiser le derriere.'[2] The witches of Poictiers in 1574 'dansoyent à l'entour du bouc: puis vn chacun luy baisoit le derriere'.[3] The same ceremony took place at North Berwick in 1590: 'Now efter that the deuell had endit his admonitions, he cam down out of the pulpit, and caused all the company to com and kiss his ers, quhilk they said was cauld lyk yce.'[4] Jane Bosdeau confessed that at meetings at Puy-de-Dôme in 1594 'all the Witches had Candles which they lighted at his, and danced in a Circle Back to Back. They kiss'd his Backside, and pray'd that he would help them.'[5] Andro Man of Aberdeen in 1597 confessed 'that all thay quha convenis with thame kissis Christsonday and the Quene of Elphenis airss'.[6] Rolande de Vernois in 1598 'confessa que le Diable se presenta pour lors au Sabbat en forme d'vn gros chat noir. Que tous ceux, qui estoient au Sabbat, alloient baiser ce gros chat noir au derriere.'[7] Cornélie van Beverwyck, aged 75, at Ghent in 1598, was accused that 'vous n'avez pas craint de vous agenouiller devant lui, de lui rendre hommage et de baiser son derriere en signe de soumission'.[8] Claire Goessen in 1603 went to 'l'assemblée nocturne de Lembeke, où, après la danse, elle a, comme tous les assistans, baisé un bouc à l'endroit de sa queue'.[9] Jeannette d'Abadie in 1609 in the Basses-Pyrénées said, regarding the renunciation which she made on admission, 'il luy faisoit renouueller toutes les fois qu'elle alloit au sabbat, puis elle l'alloit baiser au derriere.'[10] At the celebrated trial of Louis Gaufredy at Aix in 1610, Magdalene de Demandouls gave a detailed account of the homage rendered by the witches:

  1. ↑ From a trial in the Guernsey Greffe.
  2. ↑ De Lancre, Tableau, p. 123.
  3. ↑ Bodin, p. 187.
  4. ↑ Melville, p. 396; see also Pitcairn, i, pt. ii, pp. 210-12, 239, 246.
  5. ↑ F. Hutchinson, p. 43.
  6. ↑ Spalding Club Misc., i, pp. 121, 125.
  7. ↑ Boguet, p. 411.
  8. ↑ Cannaert, p. 46.
  9. ↑ Id., p. 50.
  10. ↑ De Lancre, Tableau, p. 131.
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