430
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book ɪ.
ever we have some record of a divination in which
not horses but a bull played a principal part ; and
as bulls were animals sacred to the great goddess
Nerthus, it is not unlikely that this was a remnant
of ancient heathendom. St. Benedict on one oc-
casion appeared to a fisherman named Wulfgeat,
and desired him to announce to duke 2E¾5elwine1,
his lord, that it was Iiis the saint’s wish to have a
monastery erected to himself, to the pious mother
of mercy and All virgins. The spot was to be where
he should see a bull stamp with his foot. To use
the words of the saint to the fisherman, “ Ut ei
igitur haec omnia per ordinem innotescas exhortor,
sermonem addens sermoni, quatenus Scrutetur di-
Iigentius in loco praedicto quomodo noctu fossa
terrae sua incumbant animalia, ac ubi taurum sur-
gentem pede dextro υiderit percutere terram, ibidem
proculdubio xenodochii sciat se aram erigere de-
bere.” Obedient to the order, duke √E¾elwine set
out in the morning to find the spot : “ Mira res, et
miranda, ubi vir praedictus insulam est ingressus,
.....animalia sua in modum crucis, taurum vero
in medio eorum iacereprospexit. Et sicut quondam
sancto Clementi agnus pede dextro locum fontis,
sic viro isti taurus terrain pede percutiendo locum
mcnsaefuturi arcisterii Significavit divinitus2.” St.
Clement’s fountain never rolled such floods of gold
as found their way to the rich abbey of Ramsey!
Other details of heathendom in the practices of
ɪ The same whom the grateful monks have distinguished by the
name of Dei amicus.
2 Cod. Dipl. No. 581.
ɑɪ- x∏∙] HEATHENDOM. WITCHCRAFT. 431
ordinary life must be left to the appendix to this
chapter; but a cursory reference may be made to
what appears to show a belief in the evil eye, and
that practice which in Latin is called invultuatio.
The former of these is mentioned in the poem of
Beowulf1, where Hro¾g⅛, warning Beowulf of the
frail tenure of human life, adds, “eagena bearhtm,”
the qlance of eyes, to the many dangers the warrior
had to fear :
Nii is ðɪnes mægnes blæd
âne lιwilc,
eft sona biδ
ðæt δec adl oδδe ecg '
Cdfofies gctw⅛feδ,
oððo-f)'res long,
o⅛δo Hodcs ivjim,
oδδo gripe mcces,
oδfie g.ires flιht
oSδo atol yldo,
o⅛fie c.igcna bearhtm,
forsitlcδ and forsworeeð.
Now is the bloom of thy strength
for a little while,
soon will it be
that sickness or the sword
shall part thee from thy power,
or clutch of fire,
or wave of flood,
or gripe of sword,
or javelin’s flight,
or ugly age,
or glance of eye,
shall oppress and. darken thee !
Invultuation is defined by Mr. Thorpe in the fol-
lowing words : “a species of witchcraft, the perpe-
trators of which were called vultivoli, and are thus
described by John of Salisbury : Qui ad affectus ho-
minum immutandos, in molliori materia, cera forte
vel limo, eorum quos pervertere nituntur effigies
exprimunt2. To this superstition Virgil alludes :
“ Limus ut hie durcscit, et hacc ut cera Iiquescit,
Uno eodemque igni, sic nostro Daphnis amore.
“ Of the practice of this superstition, both in
England and Scotland, many instances are to be
1 Beow, I. 3520.
De Nugis Curial, lib. i. cap. 12.