Appendix III · The Witch-Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology

From The Witch-Cult in Western Europe: A Study in Anthropology (Margaret Alice Murray, 1921), p. 249.

A. NAMES OF WITCHES IN COVENS

p. 249

1440. Machecoul

[Three were executed; of four equally guilty two fled, and two had died previously.]

1. Antonio Prelati

2. Bertrand Poulein

3. Etienne Corrillaut [executed]

4. Etiennette Blanchu

5. Eustache Blanchet

6. Gilles de Rais [executed]

7. Gilles de Sillé [fled]

8. Henri Griart [executed]

9. Jean Rossignol [dead]

10. Lenano Ceva

11. Perrine Martin

12. Robin Romulart [dead]

13. Roger de Bricqueville [fled]

p. 250

1582. Essex. St. Osyth

1. Ales Hunt

2. Ales Manfield

3. Ales Newman

4. Annis Glascocke

5. Annys Heade

6. Cysley Celles

7. Elizabeth Bennet

8. Elizabeth Ewstace

9. Joan Pechey

10. Joan Robinson

11. Margaret Grevell

12. Margery Sammon

13. Ursley Kemp

1590. North Berwick

[Those marked with a star are the nine who took part in the great attempt on James VI's life. Of these four were tried and executed. Of the rest of the Covens, Christian Tod, Donald Robson, and Robert Grierson were executed as witches in 1594, and Beigis Tod in 1608. The others appear to have escaped altogether.]

*1, 2. Agnes Sampson and her daughter

3. Agnes Stratton

4. Alexander Quhytelaw

5. Annie Richardson

*6. Barbara Napier

7. Beigis Tod

8. Bessie Broune

9. Bessie Gwlene [Cowan]

10. Bessie Robson

11. Bessie Thomson

12. Bessie Wright

13. Catherine Campbell

14. Catherine Duncan

15. Catherene McGill

16. Christian Carrington

17. Christian Tod

*18. Donald Robson

19. Duncan Buchanan

*20. Euphemia McCalyan

21. Geillis Duncan

22. Gilbert McGill

23. Helen Lauder

24. Helen Quhyte

25. Issobell Gylour [Gylloun]

26. Issobell Lauder

27. Jannet Blandilands

28. Jonnet Campbell

29. Jonet Gaw [Gall]

30. Jonet Logan

31. Jonet Nicholson

*32. Jonet Stratton

33. John Couper

*34. John Fian [officer]

35. John Gordon [Gray-meill]

36. John McGill

37. Kaet Gray

38. Kait Wallace

39. Malie Geddie

40. Margrett Aitchison

41. Meg Begton

42. Meg Dunn

43. Meg Stillcart

*44. Margret Thomsoun

45. Marion Bailzie

46. Marion Congilton

47, 48. Marion Linkup and her sister

49. Marion Nicholson

50. Marion Paterson

51. Marion Scheill [Shaw]

52. Marion ... [Irish Marion]

53. Masie Aitchison

54. Michael Clark

55. Richard Graham

*56. Robert Grierson

57, 58. Thomas Burnhill and his wife

59, 60. ... Stobbeis [2 women]

61. Archie Henillis' wife

*62. George Mott's wife

63. John Ramsay's wife

64. Nicoll Murray's wife

p. 251

1597. Aberdeen

[The following were executed.]

1. Andro Man

2. Christen Reid

3. Issobell Oige

4. Issobell Richie

5. Helen Rogie

6. Jonet Grant

7. Jonet Spaldarg

8. Jonet Wishert

9. Katherine Gerard

10. Margrat Bean

11. Margrat Og

12. Marion Grant

13. Thomas Leyis [officer]

[The following took a leading part in the ceremonies and were tried; seven were banished; no record as to the fate of the rest.]

1. Agnes Wobster

2. Beatrice Robbie [banished]

3. Bessie Thom

4. Christen Mitchell

5. Ellen Gray

6. Elspet Leyis [banished]

7. Issobell Coky

8. Helen Fraser

9. John Leyis [banished]

10. Jonet Davidson [banished]

11. Jonet Leyis [banished]

12. Jonet Lucas [banished]

13. Violet Leyis [banished]

1613. Lancashire

[Ten were executed; Elizabeth Demdike died in prison; Jennet Preston was acquitted, but was executed later. I suggest Jennet Hargreaves as the thirteenth, for she was the only one who was first at Malking Tower and afterwards in prison.]

1. Alice Nutter

2. Alizon Device

3. Anne Redferne

4. Anne Whittle

5. Elizabeth Demdike [officer]

6. Elizabeth Device

7. Isobel Robey

8. James Device

9. Jane Bulcock

10. Jennet Hargreaves

11. Jennet Preston

12. John Bulcock

13. Katherine Hewit

1617. Guernsey

1. Collas Becquet

2. Collette du Mont [officer]

3. Isabel Becquet

4. Marie Becquet

5. The woman Fallaise

6. The woman Hardie

7. A woman she did not know

8-13. Six others there she did not know

p. 252

1644. Queensferry

[Seven were executed.]

1. Catherine Logie

2. Catherine Thomson

3. Elspet Cant

4. Helen Hill

5. Helen Thomson

6. Isobel Young

7. Janet Lowrie

8. Janet Mowbray

9. Margaret Brown

10. Margaret Dauline

11. Marion Dauline

12. Marion Little

13. Marion Stein

1649. Herts. St. Albans

1. Anne Smith

2. John Lamen Sr.

3. John Lamen Jr.

4. John [? Joan] Lamen

5. John Palmer

6. John Salmon, Sr

7. Joseph Salmon

8. Judeth Salmon

9. Mary Bychance

10. Mary Lamen, Sr

11. Mary Lamen, Jr

12. Sarah Smith

13. Widow Palmer

1658. Alloa

1. Barbara Erskin

2. Bessie Paton

3. Elspet Black

4. James Hudston

5. James Kirk

6. Jonet Millar

7. Jonet Paterson

8. Jonet Reid

9. Kathren Black

10. Kathren Renny

11. Margret Demperstoun

12. Margret Duchall

13. Margret Tailzeour

1661. Forfar

[The two Covens were led, one by Helen Guthrie, the other by Helen Cothills. I have put in the first Coven the names which occur most frequently together.]

1. Agnes Sparke

2. Andrew Watson

3. Elspet Alexander

4. Elspet Bruce

5. Helen Alexander

6. Helen Guthrie [officer]

7. Isobel Dorward

8. Isobel Shyrie

9. John Tailzeour

10. Jonet Howit

11. Jonet Stout

12. Katherene Portour

13. Mary Rynd

1. Bessie Croket

2. Christen Whyte

3. George Ellies

4. Helen Cothills [officer]

5. Isobel Smith

6. Jonet Barrie

7. Katharene Wallace

8. Margaret Nicholl

p. 253

9. Marjorie Ritchie

10. ... Finlason

11. ... Hebrone

12, 13. Two unnamed women mentioned by Katharene Portour.

1662. Auldearne

1. Barbara Ronald

2. Bessie Hay

3. Bessie Wilson

4. Elspet Nishie

5. Issobell Gowdie

6. Issobell Nicoll

7. Janet Breadheid

8. Janet Burnet

9. John Taylor

10. John Young [officer]

11. Jean Marten [the Maiden]

12. Margret Brodie

13. Margret Wilson

1662. Kinross-shire. Crook of Devon

1. Agnes Brugh

2. Agnes Murie

3. Agnes Pittendreich

4. Bessie Henderson

5. Bessie Neil

6. Christian Grieve

7. Isabel Rutherford

8. Janet Brugh

9. Janet Paton (of Crook)

10. Janet Paton (of Kilduff)

11. Margaret Huggon

12. Margaret Litster

13. Robert Wilson

1662. Hartford, Conn.

[Though the published records are incomplete, the number of names surviving suggests that a Coven existed here.]

1. Andrew Sanford

2. Elizabeth Seager

3. James Walkley

4. Judith Varlet

5. Mary Sanford

6. Nathaniel Greensmith

7. Rebecca Greensmith

8. William Ayres

9. Goodwife Ayres

10. Goodwife Grant

11. Goodwife Palmer

12. Goodwife Sanford

1662. Bute

1. Agnes ... in Gortenis

2. Annie Heyman [the Maiden]

3. Cirstine Ballantyne [the Maiden]

4. Donald McCartour

5. Elspet Galie

6. Elspeth Gray

7. Elspet NcWilliam

8. Elspeth Spence

9. Issobell More McKaw

10. Issobell NcNeill

11. Issobell NcNicoll

12. Jonet McConachie

13. Jonet McNeill

14. Jonet McNickell

15. Jonet Isack

16. Jonet Morison

17. Jonet Nicoll

18. John Galy

19. Kathrine Cristell

20. Kathrine Frissell

p. 254

21. Kathrine McWilliam

22. Kathrine Moore

23. Kathrine Stewart

24. Margaret McNeill

25. Margaret McNickell

26. Margaret Ncilduy

27. Margaret NcLevin

28. Margaret NcWilliam

29. Margaret Smith

30. Marie McKaw

31. Marie More NcCuill

32. Marie Stewart

33. Patrick McKaw

[Besides eleven other incomplete names, of which five can be identified as being already mentioned above, leaving six to add to that number, i.e. thirty-nine in all.]

1664. Somerset

[In the first Coven I have put the names which occur most frequently together in the evidence.]

1. Alice Duke

2. Alice Green

3. Anne Bishop [officer]

4. Catharine Green

5. Christian Green

6. Dinah Warberton

7. Dorothy Warberton

8. Elizabeth Stile

9. Henry Walter

10. Jone Syms

11. Mary Green

12. Mary Penny

13. Mary Warberton

1. Christopher Ellen

2. James Bush

3. John Combes

4. John Vining

5. Julian Cox

6. Margaret Agar [officer?]

7. Margaret Clarke

8. Rachel King

9. Richard Dickes

10. Richard Lannen

11. Thomas Bolster

12. Thomas Dunning

13. ... Durnford

1673. Northumberland

1. Anne Driden

2. Anne Foster

3. Anne Usher

4. Elizabeth Pickering

5. John Crauforth

6. Lucy Thompson

7. Margaret Aynsley

8. Margarett (whose surname she knowes not)

9. Michael Aynsley

10. William Wright

11-13. And three more, whose names she knowes not

1657. Renfrewshire. Bargarran

1. Agnes Naismith

2. Alexander Anderson

3. James Lindsay

4. Janet Rodgers

5. Janet Wagh

6. Jean Fulton [officer]

7. John Lindsay

8. John Reid

9. Katherine Campbel

10. Margaret Fulton

11. Margaret Laing

12. Margaret Rodgers

13. Martha Semple

B. NAMES OF WITCHES

p. 255

[Guernsey being a law unto itself in the matter of names, the following remarks refer only to England and Scotland.]

The lists of witch-names bring to light several facts as regards the women. One of these is the entire absence of Saxon names, such as Gertrude, Edith, Hilda; Old Testament names are so few in number as to be negligible; Scandinavian names are not found; the essentially Puritan names, such as Temperance, hardly occur; but the great mass of the names fall under eight heads with their dialectical differences: 1, Ann (Annis, Agnes, Annabel); 2, Alice (Alison); 3, Christian (Christen, Cirstine); 4, Elizabeth (Elspet, Isobel, Bessie); 5, Ellen (Elinor, Helen); 6, Joan (Jane, Janet, Jonet); 7, Margaret (Marget, Meg, Marjorie); 8, Marion (Mary).

At first sight the list suggests New Testament and Greek influence; and though I am not prepared to dispute this, I would point out (1) that there was a British goddess called Anna, which may account not only for all the forms of Ann but also for the terminations in Alison and Marion; (2) that the name Christian clearly indicates the presence of another religion; (3) that there is at present nothing to prove that Isobel is a variant of Elizabeth—it is quite possible that Isobel was the original name and that the missionaries 'Christianized' it as Elizabeth; (4) that Helen was a pre-Christian name in Great Britain; (5) that Margaret may have been originally Marget, the spelling and pronunciation being influenced by the Greek form; and as g and y are dialectically interchangeable, Marget would be the same as, or closely allied to, the Finnish Marjatta.

If Christianity had obtained the hold on the people which the ecclesiastical writers would have us believe, the name Mary should surely have been the most common, but it hardly occurs in Great Britain before 1645, while Marion is hardly used after that date. This looks as though Marion were the earlier form, and Mary may therefore be merely the contraction of the longer name.

As regards the name Joan I can offer no explanations or suggestions. I can only call attention to its overwhelming preponderance in comparison with the others.

In the lists the names are arranged without regard to local differences of spelling. The surnames are in alphabetical order.