*SOCIAL ORGANIZATION W. H. R. Rivers, F.R.S. *A THOUSAND YEARS OF THE TARTARS Professor E. H. Parker *THE THRESHOLD OF THE PACIFIC Dr. C. E. Fox THE EARTH BEFORE HISTORY Edmond Perrier PREHISTORIC MAN Jacques de Morgan LANGUAGE Professor J. Vendryes *HISTORY AND LITERATURE OF CHRISTIANITY Professor P. de Labriolle *CHINA AND EUROPE Adolf Reichwein *LONDON LIFE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY M. Dorothy George A GEOGRAPHICAL INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY Professor Lucien Febvre *THE DAWN OF EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION V. Gordon Childe, B.Litt. MESOPOTAMIA: BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN CIVILIZATION Prof. L. Delaporte *THE ÆGEAN CIVILIZATION Professor Gustave Glotz *THE PEOPLES OF ASIA L. H. Dudley Buxton *THE MIGRATION OF SYMBOLS Donald A. Mackenzie *LIFE AND WORK IN MODERN EUROPE Professor Georges Renard *TRAVEL AND TRAVELLERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES Edited by Prof. A. P. Newton *CIVILIZATION OF THE SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS Rafael Karsten RACE AND HISTORY Professor E. Pittard FROM TRIBE TO EMPIRE Professor A. Moret *A HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT Montague Summers *ANCIENT GREECE AT WORK Professor G. Glotz THE FORMATION OF THE GREEK PEOPLE Professor A. Jardé *THE ARYANS V. Gordon Childe, D.Litt. PRIMITIVE ITALY Professor Léon Homo ROME THE LAW-GIVER Professor J. Declareuil THE ROMAN SPIRIT Professor A. Grenier _In preparation_: *LIFE AND WORK IN MEDIEVAL EUROPE Professor Boissonade *A HISTORY OF MEDICINE C. G. Cumston, M.D. ANCIENT PERSIA AND IRANIAN CIVILIZATION Professor C. Huart *ANCIENT ROME AT WORK Paul Louis THE LIFE OF BUDDHA E. H. Thomas, D.Litt. * _An asterisk indicates that the volume does not form part of the French collection “L’Évolution de l’Humanité.”_ _A complete classified list of the SERIES will be found at the end of this volume._ [Illustration: PLATE I THE DEPARTURE FOR THE SABBAT. David Teniers [_frontispiece_] The History of Witchcraft and Demonology By MONTAGUE SUMMERS _Initiati sunt Beelphegor: et comederunt sacrificia mortuorum._ _Et immolauerunt filios suos, et filias suas dæmoniis_ _Et effuderunt sanguinem innocentem. Et fornicati sunt in adinuentionibus suis._—PSALM CV. [Illustration] NEW YORK ALFRED A. KNOPF 1926 _To_ _PATRICK,_ _in memory of Loreto and Our Lady’s Holy House, as also of Our Lady’s miraculous Picture at Campocavallo, Our Lady of Pompeii, La Consolata of Turin, Consolatrix Afflictorum in S. Caterina ai Funari at Rome, la Santissima Vergine del Parto of S. Agostino, the Madonna della Strada at the Gesù, La Nicopeja of San Marco at Venice, Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle of Rennes, Notre-Dame de Grande Puissance of Lamballe, and all the Italian and French Madonnas at whose shrines we have worshipped._ Printed in Great Britain at _The Mayflower Press, Plymouth_. William Brendon & Son, Ltd. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION vii CHAPTER I. THE WITCH: HERETIC AND ANARCHIST 1 II. THE WORSHIP OF THE WITCH 51 III. DEMONS AND FAMILIARS 81 IV. THE SABBAT 110 V. THE WITCH IN HOLY WRIT 173 VI. DIABOLIC POSSESSION AND MODERN SPIRITISM 198 VII. THE WITCH IN DRAMATIC LITERATURE 276 BIBLIOGRAPHY 315 INDEX 347 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE I. THE DEPARTURE FOR THE SABBAT (David Teniers) _Frontispiece_ PAGE II. THE WORLD TOST AT TENNIS. 4to., 1620 8 (_Facsimile title-page._) III. COMPENDIVM MALEFICARVM. MEDIOLANI, 1626 82 (_Facsimile title-page of second edition._) IV. OFF TO THE SABBAT (Queverdo) 120 V. THE SABBAT (Ziarnko) 144 VI. THE WITCH OF ENDOR (W. Faithorne) 178 (_Frontispiece to Sadducismus Triumphatus_, 1681) VII. S. JAMES VISITS THE WARLOCK’S DEN (Pieter Breughel) 250 VIII. THE WITCH OF EDMONTON. 4to., 1658 290 (_Facsimile title-page._) INTRODUCTION The history of Witchcraft, a subject as old as the world and as wide as the world,—since I understand for the present purpose by Witchcraft, Sorcery, Black Magic, Necromancy, secret Divination, Satanism, and every kind of malign occult art,—at once confronts the writer with a...