The Witch

by Ronald Hutton

  Denmark: women blamed for bad weather, (i); love spells, (i); law forbids possession of magic books, (i); punishments for magic acts, (i); witches cause illness, (i)

  ‘Devi’ religious revival, western India, (i)

  Devil (Christian): and Spanish bruja, (i); and Tangu of New Guinea, (i); literal belief in, (i); and witchcraft, (i); supposed worship by witches, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi); sex with, (i); temptation by, (i); pacts with, (i), (ii); in Scotland, (i); in animal form, (i); see also demons and demonesses; Satan

  Devil-worship, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Diana (goddess): leads night-riding women, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), (vii), (viii), (ix); origins and cult, (i), (ii); in Modena, (i); as ‘queen of the fairies’, (i), (ii)

  Dickie, Matthew, (i)

  Dinka (people), Africa, (i)

  Disir (female warriors), (i)

  divination, (i), (ii)

  Dobu (islands), New Guinea, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)

  Dodona, Greece, (i)

  dogs: as demonic familiars, (i)

  Dominican Order, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Douglas, Janet, (i)

  Dowayo (people), Cameroon, (i), (ii)

  Drever, Janet, (i)

  druids, (i), (ii)

  drums: in shamanic ritual, (i), (ii)

  Dunbar, William, (i)

  Dunlop, Elizabeth (Bessie), (i), (ii)

  Dzitas, Mexico, (i)

  East Anglia: witch-hunt (1645–7), (i); animal familiars, (i)

  Egypt (ancient): supernatural and magic in, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi); hospitable to ideas from other cultures, (i); gods, (i), (ii); Greek magical papyri, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v); as part of Roman Empire, (i), (ii); adopts Christianity, (i); influence on Greek and Roman culture, (i)

  Ekoi (people), Nigeria, (i)

  Eleanor, Queen of Henry II, (i)

  Eliade, Mircea, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)

  Elijah the prophet, (i)

  Elisha the prophet, (i)

  Elizabeth I, Queen of England, (i)

  elves see fairies

  Elymas, (i)

  Ember Days, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Encyclopaedia Britannica, (i)

  Endor, Witch of, (i)

  England: witchcraft in, (i), (ii); early medieval witch-hunts, (i); suspicions of magical practices, (i); fairies (elves) in, (i), (ii), (iii); Reformation, (i); executions for witchcraft, (i); animal familiars, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv); witch trials, (i); popular belief in witches, (i)

  Enlightenment, the, (i)

  Enoch, First Book of, (i)

  epoidos (Greek singer of incantations), (i)

  Epona (goddess), (i), (ii)

  Errores gazariorum (‘Errors of the Cathars’), (i), (ii), (iii)

  Eskimo see Inuit

  Estonia, (i)

  Euripides, (i)

  Europe: history of witch-hunts, (i), (ii), (iii); Christianity in, (i), (ii); rejects belief in witchcraft, (i), (ii); witchcraft reintroduced by ethnic immigrants, (i); regional differences in witchcraft practices, (i), (ii); witchcraft ideas inherited from antiquity, (i); shamanistic tradition, (i), (ii), (iii); witch-hunts and trials, (i), (ii), (iii); influenced by Egyptian magical beliefs, (i); ceremonial magic in, (i), (ii); paganism, (i); unbelievers in witches, (i); fear of witches, (i); belief system, (i)

  Evans-Pritchard, Sir Edward, (i), (ii)

  evil: in ancient cultures, (i)

  evil eye, the: as malign power, (i); in Mesopotamia, (i); in ancient Rome, (i); in Spain, (i); in Gaelic Scotland, (i); in Wales, (i); in Ireland, (i), (ii), (iii)

  exorcism, (i)

  Eymeric, Nicholas, (i), (ii)

  Eyrbuggja Saga, (i)

  Ezekiel, Book of, (i)

  fairies (elves): relationship with witches, (i), (ii); as benign helpers, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv); in Scotland, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), (vii); magicians, (i); flattering circumlocutions for, (i); as Diana’s retinue, (i); in England and Wales, (i), (ii), (iii); give power to service magicians, (i), (ii); historical origins and tradition, (i); characteristics, (i); etymology and meaning, (i), (ii); as beautiful women, (i); in literary fiction and romances, (i), (ii), (iii); beliefs and lore, (i); in British witch trials, (i), (ii); and human dead, (i); and service magicians, (i); seen as demons, (i); invocation and control of, (i), (ii); blamed by Gaels for misfortunes, (i); in Isle of Man, (i); Welsh fear of, (i); kingdom, (i)

  familiars see animal familiars

  Fasciculus Morum, (i)

  Fates, the, (i)

  Fayum, Egypt, (i)

  Fenian Cycle (Irish ), (i)

  Fergusson islands, New Guinea, (i)

  Ferrer, Vincent, (i)

  Festus, Sextus Pompeius, (i)

  Feugeyron, Ponce, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Fian, Jophn, (i)

  Field, Margaret, (i)

  Fijians: fear of witchcraft, (i)

  Finn mac Cumaill, (i), (ii)

  Finnmark, (i), (ii)

  Finns (people) and Finland, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v); see also Norse region; Sámi

  Firmicus Maternus, (i)

  Flanders, (i)

  Flavian dynasty (Rome), (i)

  Fletcher, John, (i)

  Flint, Valerie, (i)

  Florence: magic cases, (i)

  Flores, southern Indonesia, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Florio, John, (i)

  ‘flying venom’, (i)

  flying witches see night-flying

  Foulis, Lady (of Cromarty), (i)

  Framlingham, Suffolk, (i)

  Franc, Martin le: Le Champion des Dames, (i)

  France: women put to death for practising magic, (i); medieval witch trials, (i); sorcery condemned, (i); early modern witch trials, (i); witches cause impotence, (i); women take form of wolves, (i)

  Franciscan Order, (i)

  Franks, (i), (ii)

  Frazer, Sir James, (i)

  Freising, Bavaria, (i), (ii)

  Frithiof’s Saga, (i), (ii)

  Friuli district, Italy, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv); see also benandanti

  Fründ, Hans, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Fulton, Margaret, (i)

  furious army, (i)

  Gă (people), southern Ghana, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Gaelic people (Scotland): seers, (i); fairy myth, (i); witches and witch trials, (i), (ii), (iii); belief in witches, (i); belief in magic, (i); medieval records, (i); see also Celtic regions and Celts

  galla (Mesopotamian demon), (i)

  Gambia: witch-hunting, (i)

  Gaskill, Malcolm, (i)

  Gaul: Epona and the Matres in, (i)

  Gawa island, Melanesia, (i)

  Gaya (people), northern Sumatra, (i)

  Gebsattel, Germany, (i)

  Gebusi (people), New Guinea, (i)

  Geertz, Hildred, (i)

  Geneva: witch trial (1401), (i)

  George of Saluzzo, bishop of Aosta and of Lausanne, (i)

  Gerald of Wales, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Germanicus, (i)

  Germany (mediaeval and modern): witch trials, (i); law codes, (i), (ii); night-riding cannibals, (i); and cannibal witch, (i), (ii); witches’ offences, (i)

  Germany (pagan): and sudden death of babies and children, (i); attitudes to witchcraft, (i); and killing and eating of people, (i); and power of women, (i); fear of nocturnal demonesses, (i), (ii); women as prophets, (i); mythology, (i)

  Gervase of Tilbury, (i), (ii)

  Geschiere, Peter, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Ghana: witch-hunting, (i); humans changed into animals and plants and sold, (i)

  Ghent, (i)

  ghosts: accounts of, (i); see also dead, the

  Gifford, George, (i)

  Ginzburg, Carlo: approach to witchcraft studies, (i), (ii); on shamanism of benandanti of Friuli, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv); on benandanti practices, (i), (ii), (iii); on night-roamers, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v); on Diana cult, (i); on pagan goddesses in witchcraft, (i); on ecstatic cults, (i); on witch-hunting and heresy-hunting, (i), (ii); on fairies, (i), (ii)
, (iii); on shamanistic practices, (i); on Celtic tradition, (i)

  Giriama (people), Kenya, (i)

  Gisu (people), Uganda, (i), (ii)

  Gnosticism, (i)

  goblin: as term, (i)

  goēs, goētes (Greek exorciser of ghosts), (i), (ii)

  Gongu-Hrolf’s Saga, (i)

  Gonja (people), Ghana, (i)

  Goodare, Julian, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)

  Gothrey, John, (i)

  Gotland, West, (i)

  Gowdie, Isobel, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Graf, Fritz, (i), (ii)

  Great Schism (1378–1418), (i), (ii)

  Greece (ancient): on properties of herbs, (i); attitude to magic and religion, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv); war with Persians, (i); absence of witchcraft, (i), (ii), (iii); citizenship, (i); on child-killing demons, (i); in Egypt, (i); astrology and horoscopes, (i); see also Athens

  green (colour): associated with fairies, (i)

  Gregory VII, Pope, (i)

  Gregory XI, Pope, (i)

  Gregory XIII, Pope, (i)

  Greyerz, Peter von, (i)

  Grim the Collier of Croydon, (i)

  Grimm, Jacob: on female powers, (i), (ii); on medieval nocturnal processions, (i); on Diana/Hera cult, (i); on female goddess figures, (i); on ‘Wild Hunt’, (i); on satanic witch, (i); on heresy and folklore, (i); and witch figure, (i); on nocturnal spirits, (i), (ii); Deutsche Mythologie, (i)

  Gurage (people), Ethiopia, (i)

  Gusii (people), Kenya, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Gwembe Valley, southern Zambia, (i)

  Gwrach (Welsh female figure), (i)

  Gwyn ap Nudd, (i)

  Hadrian of Tyre, (i)

  hag, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Hagen, Rune Blix, (i)

  Haldane, Isobel, (i)

  Hammurabi, Babylonian king, (i)

  Handsome Lake, Seneca chief, (i), (ii)

  Hansen, Joseph, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)

  Harbe de-Moshe (‘Sword of Moses’), (i)

  Harpokration, (i)

  Harran, northern Syria, (i)

  Harte, Jeremy, (i)

  Harvey, Graham, (i)

  Haselbach, Thomas von, (i)

  Hávamál (Norse poem), (i)

  Hay, William, (i)

  Hebe (people), Tanzania, (i)

  Hebrews (ancient), (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v)

  Hebrides, (i), (ii)

  Hecate Ereschigal (deity), (i)

  Hecate (Hekate; mythological figure), (i), (ii), (iii)

  heka (ancient Eyptian concept), (i), (ii)

  Helen of Troy, (i)

  Helios (sun god), (i)

  Henningsen, Gustav, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), (vii), (viii)

  Henry I, King of England, (i)

  Henry II, King of England, (i)

  Henry VIII, King of England, (i)

  Henry, Prince of Wales, (i)

  Henryson, Robert, (i)

  Hera (goddess), (i), (ii)

  Heracles (deity), (i)

  herburgius, (i)

  Hérens valley, Alps, (i)

  heresy: and Catholic Church, (i), (ii), (iii); defined and detected, (i); and witch-hunts, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Herlechin: retinue of, (i)

  Hermetism: in Europe, (i)

  Herne the Hunter, (i)

  Herodias: leads night-riding women, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v); origins and cult, (i); and John the Baptist, (i); in Balkans, (i); in South Tyrol, (i)

  Herodotus, (i)

  Herrick, Robert, (i)

  Hewa (people), New Guinea, (i)

  Heywood, Thomas, (i)

  hiereia (Greek pristess), (i)

  Hildegard of Bingen, (i)

  Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, (i)

  Historia Norwegiae, (i)

  historians: and witchcraft studies, (i)

  Hittites, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)

  Hobgoblin, (i)

  Höfler, Otto, (i)

  Holda (striga), (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v)

  Holle, (i), (ii), (iii)

  holy wells, (i)

  Homer, (i), (ii); Odyssey, (i)

  Honorius of Autun, (i)

  hoopooe (bird), (i)

  Hopi (people), Southwest America, (i)

  Hopkins, Matthew, (i)

  Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), (i), (ii), (iii)

  horoscopes, (i)

  Hrolf Kraki’s Saga, (i)

  Hulda (or Olda; Old Testament prophetess), (i)

  human sacrifice: in Roman accounts, (i)

  Hungary, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)

  hunt see Wild Hunt

  Huon de Bordeaux, (i)

  hurdle-riders, (i)

  Huron (people), Canada, (i)

  Husii (people), Kenya, (i)

  hyenas, (i)

  Hyperborean region (‘Never-Never Land’), (i)

  Iamblichus, (i)

  Ibibio (people), Nigeria, (i)

  Iceland: literature, (i); shamanic practices, (i); and night riders, (i); witch trials, (i)

  images: stuck with pins, (i)

  incantation bowls, (i)

  incest: among witches, (i)

  India: different social castes, (i); holy men, (i); women killed as witches, (i)

  Indonesia: trials for witchcraft, (i)

  Indus Valley: attitude to magic, (i)

  Inquisition, Holy, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Inuit (or Eskimo people), Greenland, (i), (ii)

  Ireland: Pope John XXII’s influence in, (i); fairies and death in, (i); low number of witch trials, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv); belief in witches, (i), (ii); medieval, (i); curses, (i); lacks fear of witchcraft, (i); Protestant settlers, (i)

  Iroquois (people), North America, (i)

  Isis (Egyptian goddess), (i)

  Islam: punishment for witchcraft, (i); development as major religion, (i); and control of demons, (i)

  Istria, (i)

  Italy: night wanderers in, (i); child killing by witches, (i); ‘the lady’ in, (i); diabolic magic, (i); and image of witchcraft, (i); and popular beliefs, (i); women take form of cats, (i); see also benandanti

  Jackson, Thomas, (i)

  Jacobus of Voragine, (i)

  James VI, King of Scotland (James I of England), (i), (ii)

  Jammeh, Yahya, president of Gambia, (i)

  Japan: little witchcraft information, (i)

  Jeffries, Ann, (i)

  Jehovah’s Witness movement: in central Africa, (i)

  Jericho: walls brought down, (i)

  Jesus Christ, (i)

  Jews: evolution, (i); magic, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv); in Egypt, (i); exorcists, (i); persecuted in Europe, (i), (ii); see also Hebrews

  John the Baptist, (i)

  John Chrysostom, (i)

  John of Salisbury, (i)

  John XXII, Pope, (i), (ii)

  Jonson, Ben: celebrates royal visit to Althorp, (i); The Alchemist, (i); The Divell is an Asse, (i); Masque of Queenes, (i)

  Josephus, (i)

  Jubilees, Book of, (i)

  Judith, empress wife of Louis the Pious, (i)

  Kaguru (people), Tanzania, (i), (ii)

  Kallestrup, Louise Nyholm, (i)

  Kaluli (people), Papua, (i), (ii)

  Kamba (people), Kenya, (i)

  Kaska (people), Canada/Alaska border, (i), (ii)

  Kerebe (people), Tanzania, (i)

  keshafim (witchcraft practitioners), (i)

  Ketil’s Saga, (i)

  Key of Solomon (magic handbook), (i)

  Khattushili I, Hittite king, (i)

  Khattushili III, Hittite king, (i)

  Kieckhefer, Richard, (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi)

  Kilkenny: trial (1324–5), (i)

  King’s Lynn, Norfolk, (i), (ii)

  Kingsley, Mary, (i)

  Kinshasa, Congo, (i), (ii)

  kinship: challenged by witchcraft, (i)

  Klaniczay, Gábor, (i), (ii)

  Knights Templar, (i)

  Knutsen, Gunnar, (i), (ii)

  Koning, Niek, (i)

 
Konkombo (people), Togo, (i)

  Koreongo (people), Sudan, (i)

  Kormák’s Saga, (i)

  Koryak (people), Siberia, (i)

  kresniks (or kudlaks), (i)

  Kuranko (people), Sierra Leone, (i), (ii)

  Kwahu (people), Ghana, (i)

  Kyranides, (i), (ii)

  Kyteler, Alice, Lady, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Labeo, Notker, (i)

  ‘Lady’, the (or ‘ladies’), (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), (vii), (viii), (ix); see also Diana; Herodias

  La Fontaine, Jean, (i)

  Lala (poeple), Zambia, (i), (ii)

  Lamashtu (Mesopotamian demoness), (i)

  lamiai (Greek demons), (i), (ii)

  Lancaster: witch trials (1612, 1634), (i)

  Lancre, Pierre de, (i), (ii)

  Languedoc, (i)

  Lapland: witches, (i), (ii)

  Lapps see Sámi

  Larzac, southern France, (i)

  Latin America: witchcraft in, (i)

  Latvia, (i)

  Lausanne, Switzerland, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Laxdaela Saga, (i)

  Layamon, (i)

  Lebowo district, Transvaal, (i)

  Lecouteux, Claude, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Lele (people), Zambia, (i), (ii), (iii)

  lepers: persecuted, (i)

  Levack, Brian, (i)

  Lévi-Strauss, Claude, (i)

  Levine, Robert, (i)

  Lewinston, Christian, (i)

  Lex Cornelia (Roman law), (i)

  Libanius, (i)

  Lienhardt, Godfrey, (i), (ii)

  lil (Mesopotamian demons and ghosts), (i)

  Lilith (Hebrew figure), (i)

  Lincoln, (i)

  Lisu (people), northern Thailand, (i)

  Lithuania, (i)

  Livia, Roman empress dowager, (i)

  Livia Julia, Roman princess, (i)

  Livonia, (i), (ii)

  Lobedu (people), South Africa, (i)

  Lobengula, King of the Matabele, (i)

  Logoli (people), western Kenya, (i)

  Lollards, (i)

  Lombard kingdom, (i), (ii)

  London: magic practitioners punished, (i)

  Lorraine, (i), (ii)

  Louis X, King of France, (i)

  love spells, (i)

  Lowveld region, Transvaal, (i)

  Lucan, (i)

  Lucca, (i)

  Lucian, (i), (ii)

  Lucifer, (i)

  Lugbara (people), Uganda, (i)

  Luongo, Katherine, (i)

  Lusaka, Zambia, (i)

  Lutheranism, (i), (ii)

  Luzern, Switzerland, (i), (ii), (iii)

  Mag Tuired, second battle of (Irish saga text), (i)

  mageia (Greek magical craft), (i)