De Castigatione Maleficarum; Or: The Punishment of Witches

The next thread in the history of my page from Nuremberg Chronicle (1493) involves Vincent of Beauvais [aka Vincentius Burgundus] (d. 1264?) and Olaus Magnus (d.1557). (For my first post on this page, see here.)

Vincent of Beauvais was an encyclopaedist. His vast Speculum Maius [Great Mirror] (1244) is in three parts, one of which is the still-enormous Speculum Historiale [Mirror of History]. I have not been able to find online a copy of the relevant parts of the Speculum Historiale, but Olaus Magnus quotes William of Malmesbury's 1125 story concerning "a certain wicked woman" via Vincent of Beauvais in his Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus [History of the Northern Peoples] (1555), Book 3, ch.21.

(Book 3 of the Historia is on the subject of "De superstitiosa cultura dæmonum populorum Aquilonarium" [The superstitious worship of demons by the Scandinavians or Popular superstitions and demon worship of the Scandinavians], chapter 21 is on "De castigatione maleficarum" [the punishment of witches or, the castigation of malefactors].)

As you can see above, Olaus Magnus offers the following brief introduction to the story:

Lest the Northern Witches should seem to be quoted here only as having been made sad examples of, there occurs in Vincentius's History, book 25, cap. 26, a story of an English woman, who having been baffled by the magic art, was carried into the air with horrid shouts by the Dæmons, after she had endured severe torments. The words run thus: When a certain woman living at Berkeley, a small village in England, a Fortune-teller and a Sorceress … [Vincent quotes William of Malmesbury's story]

[Ne videantur septentrionales maleficiae solum hic ad tristia spectacula adduci, occurrit Vincen. in Spe. Hist. lib. 25, cap. 26, afferens Anglicanam fœminam arte magica illusam, a Dæmonibus post dira tormenta, ad aera cum clamoribus horrendis fuisse rapta. Cujus verba hæc sunt: Mulier quædam apud Berkeleiam Angliæ villam auguratrix et malefica … etc.]

[I am indebted to Edward Athenry Whyte for both the Latin and the translation of the above passage from Olaus Magnus and Vincent of Beauvais (Whyte will be the subject of another post).]

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Anyway, the following illustration of William of Malmesbury's story appears in the 1555 edition of Olaus Magnus' text (taken from the National Library of Norway copy here; other copies online include Ghent University copy here and Lyon Public Library copy here).

According to Jane P. Davidson, The Witch In Northern European Art, 1470–1750 (1987), 27–28:

The first edition of the Historia … is a lavish, beautifully bound and printed book which was illustrated throughout with engravings of the deeds of witches and demons. The iconography of these illustrations conforms to the descriptions in Olaus Magnus' text. … p. 126 shows a female witch being carried off by a demon who is astride an enchanted horse. Clearly this witch has met with a bad end, as she seems very reluctant to accompany the devil. She is not on her way to a sabbat, but rather to hell. The caption reads "De castigatione maleficarum."

Davidson goes on to explain that a second edition (1567) was illustrated by "the Master C.G." who, as you can see below, masterfully copied the illustrations in the first edition (1555).

Although there are other illustrated editions of Olaus Magnus' Historia, I was unable to find other online editions which illustrate this story.

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The Historia was quickly translated into English by John Streater as: A Compendious History of the Goths, Swedes and Vandals and other Northern Nations (London: J. Streater, 1658) [Wing M257 (34 copies on ESTC here)]. Streater titles Book 3 of the Historia as The Superstitious Worship of Devils, used by the People of the North, William of Malmesbury's story appears as chapter 20 (rather than 21), and is titled The punishment for Witches (on pp.50–51).

Since Streater's translation is not available online, I will transcribe the text here:

LEST the Northern Witches should seem alone here to be led to sad spectacles, Vincentius in Spec. Hist. l. 25, c. 26, comes and tells us that an English woman, deluded by Magical Art, after cruel torments, was carryed by the Devils into the Ayr with horrid cries. His words are these:
  There was a certain Woman in Bethelia [sic], a Village in England, that was a South-sayer and a Witch who one day, when she was eating, heard her chough, that she took great pleasure in, to speak something more loud than it was wont to do: When the Mistriss heard this, her knife fell out of her hand, and she grew pale in her face; and lamenting, she said very often: This day is my Plough come to the last Furrow; this day shall I hear and receive great hurt.
  As she yet spake, a Messenger came to her, saying; This day is thy Son dead, and all thy Family died suddenly. This heard, she sank down, wounded with continual grief, and she commanded all her children that were alive to be brought to her, which were a Fryer and a Nun; to whom she sighing, said thus: I by my miserable destiny, ever was a servant to the Divel in my actions, I am the Sink of all Vice, and the Mistriss of enticements: I onely confided in your Religion, and I despaired to my self: But now, because I know the Divel shall have me to torment me, who perswaded me to offend, I beseech you, by the bowels of your Mother, that you will attempt to ease my torments; for you cannot revoke the Sentence of Damnation passed upon my soul: Werefore sow up my body in a Stags skin, and put it into a Chest of Stone, and fasten the cover with Iron and Lead, and bind about the stone with three great chains. If I ly three nights thus in safety, you shall bury me the fourth day: though I fear the Earth will not receive me, by reason of my Witchchrafts; let there be Psalms sung for me fifty nights, and Mass said for me as many dayes. They did as she bad them, but it nothing availed; for the two first nights, when the Clerks and Queristers sand Psalms about her body, all the Devils easily breaking the Church door that was fastened with a mighty bar, tore in pieces two of the chains; but the middle chain which was made stronger, held fast. The third night, about Cock-crowing, all the Monastery seemed to be lifted from the Foundation, with a noise of Enemies coming; one of them was more terrible to look on, and taller than the rest; and he striking the Church-door with great force, brake them into fritters, and came proudly to the Coffin, and in arrogant gesture, and calling her by her name, commanded her to rise. When she answered, that she could not for her bands.
  Thou shalt, saith he, be unbounded, but to thy greater mischief: And he forthwith brake the Chain, the rest of the Devils could not do, as if it had been Flax, and he kicked off the cover of the Grave with his foot; and taking her by the hand before them, he drew her forth at the Church-doors, where there was prepared a black horse, which proudly neighed, that had Hooks of Iron all over him, that stuck forth: Upon this Horse was this miserable woman set, and she presently disappeared from the beholders eyes, with all her company. But there were cryes heard almost four miles, of this miserable wretch calling for help.

Chatteris Family Bible, 1599

On three blank pages between the Old and New Testaments, in a “1599” Geneva Bible (above; the date is false, the Bible was probably printed after 1640) appears some genealogical records in an early hand. The pages were filled up out of sequence. I reproduce them and transcribed them below (in the logical sequence) in case they are of any use to descendants of Edward and Grace Chatteris (which seems to be the correct spelling of Chatterris).

It seems that Edward and Grace had thirteen children, four of whom are recorded as having married or had children of their own (Edward [no.5], Henry, John and Elizabeth [nos. 10, 11, 12]). The genealogical account focusses on John’s three children, especially his son Cornelius, who is recorded as having three children of his own by the first decade of the eighteenth century, when the records stop.

From the fact that most of the details concerning Edward and Grace are recorded in one hand in an orderly fashion and, it seems, at one time, I assume that the Bible was owned by John who, in ca.1676, recorded all of these details concerning his family. From the focus of the later entries it seems that that he passed the Bible down to Cornelius; if so, the two later handwriting styles are probably those of Cornelius and Sarah his wife, whose final entry records the death of Cornelius in very faint ink.

The only other name to appear in this Bible is John Peacock, who recorded that this was “His Book” on 10 January 1795.

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[page one]

Edward Chatterris and Grace Smith were Marryed on the first day of May in the year 1629

Edward Chatterris Husband to Grace Chatterris was buryed September the 16th in the year 1654

Grace, the Wife of Edward Chatterris was Bureyed December 1681

[2] Two twins Born in the year 1630 and was Buryed before they were Baptised

[3] Margaret Chatterris Daughter to Edward Chatterris & to Grace his wife was Baptised November the 20th 1631. And was Buryed December the 24th in the year 1651

[4] One other child Born in the year 1652 and Buryed before it was baptised

[5] Edward Chatterris sonn to Edward Chatterris & to Grace his wife was Baptised August the 31th in the year 1634. And was Buryed

[6] Grace Chatterris Daughter to Edward Chatterris & to Grace his Wife was Baptised March 26th in the year 1637. And was Buryed on the 23th of October in the year 1639

[7] Annis Chatterris Daughter to Edward Chatterris & to Grace his Wife was Baptised February the 11th in the year 1638. And was Buryed on the 27th of November in the year 1639

[8] Grace Chatterris Daughter to Edward Chatterris & to Grace his Wife was Baptised on the 4th of October in the year 1640. And was Buryed on the 29th of December in the year 1651

[9] William Chatterris son to Edward Chatterris & to Grace his Wife was Baptised on the 23th of April in the year 1643. And was Buryed on the 25th of May in the year 1646

[10] Henry Chatterris son to Edward Chatterris & to Grace his Wife was Baptised on the 6th of April in the year 1645. And was Buryed on the 21st of May in the year 167[.]

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[page two]

[11] John Chatterris son to Edward Chatterris & to Grace his Wife was Baptised on the 17th of October in the year 1647.

John Chatterris & Sarah Fring[.] was Married January 29th 1674

[12] Elizabeth Chatterris Daughter to Edward Chatterris & to Grace his Wife was Baptised on the 23th of May in the year 1649.

William Crosby & Eliz: Chatterris were Married Janua: 30th 1672

[13] Job Chatterris son to Edward Chatterris & to Grace his Wife was Baptised on the 2nd of August in the year 1654. And was Buryed on the [ ]th of June in the year 1673

[1] Cornelius Chatterris son to John Chatterris & Sarah his Wife was Baptised on the 21th day of November in the year 1675.

[2] John Chatterris son of John Chatterris & Sarah his Wife, was born June ye 23th 1677. And he was buryed October the 28th in the same year.

[3] Sarah Chatterris Daughter to John Chatterris and to Sarah his Wife was born January the 15th a bought tenn of the clok in the fore none and was Baptised January the 26th in the year of our Lord 1685.

John Chatterris was buryed March the 13 & buryed at Conington, 1688

Sarah Chatterris wife to John Chatterris was buryed att Conington October the 30 1689

Cornelius Chatterris son of John Chatterris & Sarah his Wife was maryed to Sarah [Smithe?] at Croxton November the 25 [1745?]

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[page three]

Edward Chatterris & Joyce Prynne were marryed on the fourth day of November in the year 1664

Joyce the wife of Edward Chatterris Departed this life June the seventh 1672; whose Body Lyeth buryed at Little Waltham in Essex

Edward Chatterris was buryed the 4 day of October 1678

John and William Chatterris sons to Cornelius Chatterris and to Sarah his wife was born September the 26 170[.]

William Chatterris was buryed November the 15 170[.]

John Chatterris was buryed March the 20 170[.]

Thomas Chatterris sone to Cornelius Chatterris & Sarah his wife was born February the 8 baptised the 14 1702/3

Cornelius Chatterris [sonne] of John Chatterris & Sarah his Wife Lyeth buried att Conington October the 18 170[.]

Woman Reading, a Seventeenth-Century Sketch in Pen and Ink

Although I haven't been posting them, I have still been collecting images of women reading. This one is a seventeenth-century sketch in pen and ink. The vendor, "Once upon a time in rome" on eBay, did not answer my questions concerning the provenance of the sketch, but she has been selling quite a few of these "Old Master" sketches. As you can see from the last image sbelow, this one is numbered "63" on the verso, from which it appears that many—if not all of the sketches she is selling—were originally in an album with numbered pages. Beyond that, I can add nothing, except it is a particularly beautiful image, the oldest I have, which I am delighted to have.

Translating the Naughty Bits in Pepy's Diary

I recently stumbled upon a site dedicated to translating the coded passages in Samuel Pepys Diary (here [DEAD LINK? see below]): that is, a site where all the naughtiest naughty bits are translated, the bits which Pepys recorded in shorthand or cypher, in a mix of Spanish, French, Italian and Latin, just to be sure to be sure that no-body else could read them.**

I was a typically filthy-minded and degenerate university student when (1) I studied Pepys, (2) discovered that he was a very naughty 17C book collector (three things very much in his favour in my mind), (3) discovered that all of the really naughty bits of Pepy’s diaries had been consistently omitted or bowdlerised by his translators/editors, and (4) that the new, definitive, scholarly Latham and Matthews edition [The Diary of Samuel Pepys, ed. R. Latham and W. Matthews, 11 vols. (London: Bell, 1970-83)], while recording the code, did not provide any explanatory notes.

The Latham and Matthews editorial principle is: “if you can read Spanish, French, Italian and Latin you are (1) probably a scholar and (2) probably a man, and therefore are intelligent, mature and seriously-minded enough to safely read the naughty bits without squealing in horror (like a girl) or falling onto the ground, glassy-eyed and drooling with excitement (like a boy or a prole)” or, perhaps, “if you can only read English you are either female/young/a prole and we really need to protect your moral purity” or, perhaps, “if you can read Spanish, French or Italian you are such a degenerate no further moral harm to you is possible.”

Since Latham and Matthews were so extraordinarily squeamish, or snobbish I guess (“scholarly editions are [apparently] not designed for the weak-minded, who cannot read Spanish, French, Italian and Latin”) a generation of scholars have had the frustration of nutting out passages such as the following:

To supper, and after supper to talk without end. Very late, I went away, it raining, but I had un design pour aller a la femme de Bagwell; and did so, mais ne savais obtener algun cosa de ella como jo quisiere sino tocar la.

According to Duncan Grey’s pages of “Coded Passages,” the end of this passage translates as: “I had a fancy to go and see Bagwell's wife; and did so, but did not manage to get quite what I wanted [from her], other than to touch her.”

Hooray for Duncan Grey and his colleague Prizzlesprung! (A typo for “Pizzlesprung”?)

Since numerous coded passages are not yet present or fully translated on these pages, I hope others will contribute to Grey’s honourable endeavour.

**"Not content with the protection of his cryptic shorthand when he confided his amours to his diary, Pepys added further screens by making up a pidgin language of French, Spanish and Latin, with toy words and a freakish kind of lustful baby talk" (“Pepys's Friend,” Time (3 October 1938): 59.)

[UPDATE 9 March 2021: the site hosting the coded passages has recently dissapeared (since it has dissapeared so recent, it is possible that it is just a temporary technical problem, so I have left the link above for now). The good news is that all of the Pepys pages were captured by the Wayback Machine multiple times up to 25 January 2021. The best place to start browsing via the Wayback Machine is here.]