The Witch's Familiar and the Fairy in Early Modern England and Scotland

Bibliographic Data

ID8930769
AuthorsEmma Wilby (corresponding author)
Year2000
Volume111
Issue2
Pages283-305
Publication date2000-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFolklore (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0015-587X • E-ISSN: 1469-8315
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00155870020004648
OpenAlexW2080420978
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited1

This paper is a preliminary study into the nature of popular belief in the witch's familiar in early modern England and Scotland. It illustrates some of the similarities to be found between beliefs in the witch's familiar and contemporary fairy beliefs and argues that the extent of these similarities suggests that in the period there must have been considerable confusion between the two kinds of spirit, particularly on a popular level. The paper then goes on to argue that fairy beliefs provided a matrix of thought which underpinned the whole construct of the witch's familiar in the popular mind, a construct which interacted with elite demonological theory in a coherent and dynamic way

Art · Genealogy · Literature · Witch · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History

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