After class one day Dr. Miller agreed to talk with me about my project. She asked what books I'd already read and pointed out the ones from her syllabus that would be good to add, so I'll have to look into getting those (probably through ILL) when I get back to Tech.
In terms of the direction and narrowing-down of my project, she asked what aspects of the witch phenomenon interested me most and we just started bouncing ideas off each other. It was a really helpful way for me to kind of verbalize ideas I'd been having and getting feedback from someone who's read almost all the historiography on the subject and helped create the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft Database.
Pretty soon we were discussing the possibility of focusing on religion, and when I described my proposal about the hunts taking place during various societal and cultural changes she seemed to think parts of that was a really good idea. She also said that I was welcome to email her to bounce ideas around even after I've left Scotland, which was nice of her to offer. Here are just some of the ideas I jotted down after our conversation. I'll try to make it somewhat coherent, but it was more just a stream of thoughts to remind me about what we talked about:
The role of the Reformation in Scotland was highly encompassing. Such a drastic change had a profound effect on the country's culture, and more than just in terms of religious practices. The fact that an authority and institution so strong as the Church had been criticized so widely influenced and challenged the mentalities of Scots in all classes, from common peasants to the governing elite, and even royalty. Such an uproar that could cause the Church to split made many monarchies fear being similarly unseated from their positions of power, while lower classes struggled to understand and negotiate the differences between the two sects. The Church's fall from grace, as an institution that they had trusted and obeyed without question for centuries, resulted in nationwide insecurities. The Protestant Kirk was able to capitalize on the widespread sense of fear and mistrust by preaching about the dangers of the heretical "Catholic" Church which was popish and filled with ceremony and ritual. This sense of fear, along with the vendettas by the Kirk and King to stamp out any lingering beliefs in ceremonies and rituals, had a direct relation to the development of the witch-hunts in Scotland. People were condemned due to religious "treason" (ie, pacts with the Devil and renunciation of baptism), as well as for the ritual/ceremony involved in more pagan styles of magic (healing, chanting, prophecy, protective sorcery, etc.). The Protestant Kirk also built up and emphasized a connection between supernatural creatures (fairies, elves, ghosts, etc.) with evil beings (demons, devil) and condemned people for associating with them as well.
The concepts of what constituted superstition changed, and practices that had been allowed by the "Catholic" Church were vehemently attacked by the Protestant Kirk, such as festivals, protective rituals, relic worship, etc. Both the State and the Kirk had even developed fears of folktales and tales of rebellion, linking most to the Devil. Thus, with most of their outlets stymied by the Kirk, many Scots turned to asking witches for help, usually in search of their healing skills. The perceived rebellion against the sanctity of the Kirk, along with the acts of 'malifices' or criminal sorcery committed by witches, made them serious threats to the Kirk and King, increased by the constant sense of fear throughout Early Modern society in Scotland.
Another interesting aspect is the fact that there were professional 'Prickers' that were paid to be the unbiased authority that could 'prove' whether or not people were truly witches, as there was definitely a concern that innocent people were getting killed in the panic of the witch-hunts. These Prickers, who would often roam from various towns and cities to offer their services, were able to make a personal profit off of the the fear that had settled around the rift of religion. Was Pricking an embracing of the move towards science just before the age of Enlightenment? It was certainly the only bit of evidence that was not based on testimony of either the witch or her victims.
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I know that was kind of long, but it might later turn out to have been worth writing down. It's still very jumbly, but it incorporates my themes of societal change as factors in the witch-hunts with this underlying concept that much of it was fueled by a developing and incredibly widespread sense of fear and distrust that resulted from the Reformation. I didn't incorporate anything about the third societal change listed in my proposal (the Union of the Crowns), but I do think I might be able to expand on that a bit too if I wanted to.
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Witchcraft class in Stirling
The class I'm taking in Stirling is not exactly what I had been anticipating, but I do think it's given me some ideas about where to go with my research. Plus, her syllabus has a huge bibliography that she actually went over with me, identifying books that she think could be particularly helpful for my project. She also compiled a source packet with copies of excerpts from a few different types of sources. It's not super expansive, but still useful.
She split the structure of the class into four sections, one for each week:
1. The meaning of witchcraft
2. Witches in the community
3. Witchcraft and popular culture (including fairy belief)
4. Witchcraft and gender
For each section, she does a lecture, answering questions outlined on the syllabus, then we have group presentations and discussions. The class was split up so that everyone does a group presentation, and there are one or two groups per week. The presentations are either on an article/book of secondary research, or on an extract from a primary resource. I did mine in the 3rd week on the Robert Kirk's 1691 "The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies," which I talked about in the last post. It's a really interesting book, and just situation in general (Protestant minister describing the existence of fairies in Scotland). And remember, Scottish Protestantism was much more akin to hard-line Calvinism than any other type. He was ridiculed by most who read it, especially in London, and it added to the conception that people in the Highlands were primitive and superstitious. The publication was seen as a regression away from the increasingly scientific age that was developing and basic Protestant principles. From Kirk's perspective though, he was writing an essay that proved that fairies were real because he knew that if people questioned the existence of fairies, they would question the existence of witches, and demons, and eventually God himself. In his own logic, he was protecting the Christian faith and preventing the problem of atheism.
The class has given me a better understanding of how the witch phenomenon in Scotland was in part a product of merging traditional ("pagan") folklore with Christianity, and how the Reformation helped fuel the search. It's also helped me get rid of the pop culture pre-conceptions I've developed about witches and the witch hunts. They were not exceptionally different than most other people in their towns, and they had active roles within their communities, often sought out by their neighbors for help. There was this concept of "limited good," whereby people believed that there was only so much good fortune to go around, and that you had to maximize the amount you would get, even with the knowledge that it might be taking some away from other people. This maximization process is often where magic and rituals came into play, mostly carried out to protect against bad fortune.
Later I'll write about my chat with Dr. Miller about the direction of my project.
She split the structure of the class into four sections, one for each week:
1. The meaning of witchcraft
2. Witches in the community
3. Witchcraft and popular culture (including fairy belief)
4. Witchcraft and gender
For each section, she does a lecture, answering questions outlined on the syllabus, then we have group presentations and discussions. The class was split up so that everyone does a group presentation, and there are one or two groups per week. The presentations are either on an article/book of secondary research, or on an extract from a primary resource. I did mine in the 3rd week on the Robert Kirk's 1691 "The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies," which I talked about in the last post. It's a really interesting book, and just situation in general (Protestant minister describing the existence of fairies in Scotland). And remember, Scottish Protestantism was much more akin to hard-line Calvinism than any other type. He was ridiculed by most who read it, especially in London, and it added to the conception that people in the Highlands were primitive and superstitious. The publication was seen as a regression away from the increasingly scientific age that was developing and basic Protestant principles. From Kirk's perspective though, he was writing an essay that proved that fairies were real because he knew that if people questioned the existence of fairies, they would question the existence of witches, and demons, and eventually God himself. In his own logic, he was protecting the Christian faith and preventing the problem of atheism.
The class has given me a better understanding of how the witch phenomenon in Scotland was in part a product of merging traditional ("pagan") folklore with Christianity, and how the Reformation helped fuel the search. It's also helped me get rid of the pop culture pre-conceptions I've developed about witches and the witch hunts. They were not exceptionally different than most other people in their towns, and they had active roles within their communities, often sought out by their neighbors for help. There was this concept of "limited good," whereby people believed that there was only so much good fortune to go around, and that you had to maximize the amount you would get, even with the knowledge that it might be taking some away from other people. This maximization process is often where magic and rituals came into play, mostly carried out to protect against bad fortune.
Later I'll write about my chat with Dr. Miller about the direction of my project.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Scottish Fairies
For the past week, I've been working on the 1000-word paper due for my Witchcraft in Scotland class. She gave us a couple of questions to chose from, and I went with one about, "To what extent can Scottish fairies be considered evil." It was actually really interesting, because fairy belief was a very long-standing bit of folklore for Scots, but after the Reformation it got linked with demons and witches. It pops up a lot in witch trial confessions. I think it's also a way to tie in the role of Scottish folklore to the the history of the witch phenomenon by understanding how and why such a previously unquestioned belief was suddenly changed and even attacked by some. I think this could correlate with the fact that the Christian religion seemed to people to be something equally as unquestioned a belief, only to fall from grace to the attacks of Luther, Calvin, Knox and other Protestants. So working on the paper was actually pretty helpful-- even though it's really hard to convince yourself to work on a paper when Scotland is just outside...
On Friday, we took our class excursion. We went to Aberfoyle, which is were Rev. Robert Kirk lived and preached for his adult life, and also where he is said to have had encounters with the fairies. He's the one that went seeking answers about the fairies, and published "The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies" in the late 1600s. Obviously, it's incredibly rare that a Protestant minister would also not only believe in the fairies, but attempt to share their world with other Scots. In the essay, he pretty much just tries to lay out the 'facts' about fairies and their realm in a very scientific way, explaining their bodily make-up, the hierarchical society, their weapons, their lifespans, etc. So in Aberfoyle, we saw Robert Kirk's grave, and we walked up Doon Hill (aka, the Fairy Hill), where he supposedly walked up every morning and communed with the fairies. The legend is that one morning during his walk he collapsed/vanished, and his soul was taken by the fairies (as is a common fairy behavior). Apparently when his grave was unearthed a long time ago his body was gone, therefore meaning he is still trapped within the fairy realm. The walk up Doon Hill was really cool. It's covered in green forests, ideal for fairy life I guess. At the top is a clearing, which is supposed to be where he came in contact with the fairies, and people have lefts "clooties" all over the trees in the clearings. Clooties are cloth or ribbon that have been tied to trees as an offer to the fairies, and usually have the person's wish written on them.
After that, we drove along to where there is a stone monument just next to the road. It's inscribed with the words, "Maggie Wall burnt here 1657 as a witch." My professor said that nobody is sure who originally built the monument, or even who currently maintains it (every so often the words are painted over to keep them from wearing off). She also said that nobody has yet found any records of a witch named Maggie Wall from that area, so she thinks that either the records are waiting to be found, or else that the monument is meant for witches in general under a fictional name. Either way, it's pretty cool, and it's also interesting that 1657 is just before the really intense witch panics occurred in Scotland following the Restoration.
On Friday, we took our class excursion. We went to Aberfoyle, which is were Rev. Robert Kirk lived and preached for his adult life, and also where he is said to have had encounters with the fairies. He's the one that went seeking answers about the fairies, and published "The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies" in the late 1600s. Obviously, it's incredibly rare that a Protestant minister would also not only believe in the fairies, but attempt to share their world with other Scots. In the essay, he pretty much just tries to lay out the 'facts' about fairies and their realm in a very scientific way, explaining their bodily make-up, the hierarchical society, their weapons, their lifespans, etc. So in Aberfoyle, we saw Robert Kirk's grave, and we walked up Doon Hill (aka, the Fairy Hill), where he supposedly walked up every morning and communed with the fairies. The legend is that one morning during his walk he collapsed/vanished, and his soul was taken by the fairies (as is a common fairy behavior). Apparently when his grave was unearthed a long time ago his body was gone, therefore meaning he is still trapped within the fairy realm. The walk up Doon Hill was really cool. It's covered in green forests, ideal for fairy life I guess. At the top is a clearing, which is supposed to be where he came in contact with the fairies, and people have lefts "clooties" all over the trees in the clearings. Clooties are cloth or ribbon that have been tied to trees as an offer to the fairies, and usually have the person's wish written on them.
 |
| Clooties |
 |
| Kirk's grave |
 |
| Minister's tree |
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| Maggie Wall's Monument |
After that, we drove along to where there is a stone monument just next to the road. It's inscribed with the words, "Maggie Wall burnt here 1657 as a witch." My professor said that nobody is sure who originally built the monument, or even who currently maintains it (every so often the words are painted over to keep them from wearing off). She also said that nobody has yet found any records of a witch named Maggie Wall from that area, so she thinks that either the records are waiting to be found, or else that the monument is meant for witches in general under a fictional name. Either way, it's pretty cool, and it's also interesting that 1657 is just before the really intense witch panics occurred in Scotland following the Restoration.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
LOC Visit
The weekend before last, I took another trip to the LOC to look at some more books. I went to the Law Library to see the 3 books they had containing witch cases, but only got to see 2 as the third was a "rare book" and is only shown by appointment on weekdays (lame). Of the 2 I looked at, one looked more like something I wouldn't look at again until Grad School, but the other (A Calendar of Cases of Witchcraft in Scotland-- $15 on Amazon), seemed like a very good chronological breakdown (though quite brief) about the various cases and trials throughout the country. Could be something that might be very helpful when paired with the database.
After the that I went back to the Main Reading Room across the street and looked at a few books that are rather expensive online: Scottish Fairy Belief (Henderson, monograph), Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland (Goodare, compiled essays), and Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland: James VI's Demonology and the North Berwick Witches (Normand, annotated Demonology text + analysis). All three actually looked really excellent, but I needed more time with them. I did find out that they're all in the University of Stirling Library though. I figured I'd just check them out and look at them there, rather than ordering them through ILL, waiting a week and a half, and then only having a couple days to look at them before I leave.
After the that I went back to the Main Reading Room across the street and looked at a few books that are rather expensive online: Scottish Fairy Belief (Henderson, monograph), Witchcraft and Belief in Early Modern Scotland (Goodare, compiled essays), and Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland: James VI's Demonology and the North Berwick Witches (Normand, annotated Demonology text + analysis). All three actually looked really excellent, but I needed more time with them. I did find out that they're all in the University of Stirling Library though. I figured I'd just check them out and look at them there, rather than ordering them through ILL, waiting a week and a half, and then only having a couple days to look at them before I leave.
Friday, June 24, 2011
First Post
At the suggestion of my advisors, I'm starting this blog to help track my progress throughout my research project on witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland. Thus far, I have mainly spent time developing a decent background in the historiographical literature on the subject--though I'm still trying to get access to more secondary literature. I've also browsed the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database (http://www.shc.ed.ac.uk/Research/witches/), which I'm anticipating will be greatly helpful.
My upcoming focus, along with further expanding my historiographical knowledge, is going to be on determining my primary source collections. During my upcoming trip to Stirling, Scotland, I plan on looking through documents in the Stirling Archives and figuring out which printed sources will be most valuable for my project. I'm hoping that by the start of the Fall semester, I will have a good understanding of the applicable primary sources that support a general argument for this project.
My upcoming focus, along with further expanding my historiographical knowledge, is going to be on determining my primary source collections. During my upcoming trip to Stirling, Scotland, I plan on looking through documents in the Stirling Archives and figuring out which printed sources will be most valuable for my project. I'm hoping that by the start of the Fall semester, I will have a good understanding of the applicable primary sources that support a general argument for this project.
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