Cunning-Folk in England and Wales during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

In a recent article Willem de Blecourt highlighted how little we really know about cunning-folk in the context of European witchcraft, and stressed the need for further substantial research.' The study of English cunning-folk in the early modern period has been well served by the work of Keith Thomas and Alan Macfarlane, but their respective chapters are, nevertheless, tantalising rather than conclusive. 2 Although in the last twenty-five years early-modern historians have continued to take a strong interest in the witch-trials, and the social dynamics of witch-accusations, cunning-folk have, by and large, been neglected. 3 De Blecourt also remarked upon the paucity of relevant research on cunning-folk in the period after the trials. This observation is particularly applicable to British historiography, and it is the purpose of this present paper to begin to redress this imbalance. Most work on cunning-folk has tended to concentrate on what they did, rather than on who they were. The aim of this present discussion, therefore, is to focus less on the services cunning-folk provided, and more on their personal histories, how they generated a reputation, and how they were viewed by the society they lived in.There were a variety of terms to describe cunning-folk throughout England and Wales, and some regionality can be detected in their usage. 'Cunning-man' and 'cunningwoman', and 'wise-man' and 'wise-woman' were the most popular titles, though the prefix 'cunning' was uncommon, if not unknown, in northern England. 'Conjuror' was more commonly used in Wales and Southern England, and pertained to male practitioners only. 'Wizard' was also a masculine title, and its use seems to have been fairly widespread. It should be noted that both 'conjuror' and 'wizard' were epithets also adopted by professional prestidigitators. 'White witch' was a term more frequently used in educated

Ambiguous characters

“…--" 68 They were able to talk about a client's problem before the client had told them what was wrong, which increased trust in the cunning person's skills. 69 Narratives that represented a cunning person's power were about stopping animals and being able to heal from a distance, for example. 70 "Some people were thought to have power over livestock.…”

“…3 The cunning folk were able to heal the sick, cure cattle, find stolen property and lost people, foretell the future and practise malevolent witchcraft. 4 The lack of physicians as well as the absence of police officers enabled them to carry out healing and detection tasks that in later decades were assigned to official authorities. 5 However, little is known about the people who visited the cunning folk and why they did so.…”

Newspapers and the Popular Belief in Witchcraft and Magic in the Modern Period

“…Quacks were usually itinerants who had to generate an instant reputation and attract customers very quickly before moving on, whereas cunning-folk were usually sedentary and had to maintain permanent local reputations. 63 In addition to advertising magical services, eighteenth-and nineteenth-century newspapers could also function as an alternative to the courts, serving as tools of mediation between witches and their victims. For the seventeenth century, accusations of defamation, a good number of which relate to witchcraft, have been found in the records of those courts empowered to try them, 64 and although they were usually fought as common-law suits or in the church courts, they could also be presented as a criminal offense conducive to a breach of the peace.…”

Charmers and Charming in England and Wales from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century

“…Within the category of "charming'' I have included three types of folk healer: those who possessed writ ten or oral charms (as discussed in Davies 1996); those who had an innate healing touch; and those who pos sessed object-charms with healing properties. The rea son I believe they can be discussed in the same context is that all three types of charmer usually professed no other magical powers, they only healed "natural" ail ments, and they mostly respected a tradition of gratu ity.…”

“…Those who could read were able, and often expected, to pass on any knowl edge gained from printed sources (Reay 1991;Vincent 1989). I have not come across any examples of eight eenth-or nineteenth-century popular literature which included any of the healing charms mentioned, but several examples of common charms for stanching blood, ague and fever were printed in educated works during the early modern period (Davies 1996). It is possible that some of these printed versions of charms could have found their way into, as well as out of, the channels of folk transmission.…”