The use of lots as connected with heathendom, that is, as a means of looking into futurity, continued in vogue among the Saxons till a late period, in spite of the efforts of the clergy: this is evident from the many allusions in the Poenitentials, and the prohibitions of the secular law. The augury by horses does not appear to have been used in England, from any allusion at least which still survives; but it was still current in Germany in the seventh century, and with less change of adjuncts than we usually find in the adoption of heathen forms by Christian saints. It was left to the decision of horses to determine where the mortal remains of St. Gall should rest; the saint would not move, till certain unbroken horses were brought and charged with his coffin: then, after prayers, we are told, “Elevato igitur a pontifice nec non et a sacerdote feretro, et equis superposito, ait episcopus: ‘Tollite frena de capitibus eorum, et pergant, ubi Dominus voluerit.’[voluerit.’] Vexillum ergo crucis cum luminaribus adsumebatur, et psallentes, equis praecedentibus, via incipiebatur[[821]].” It may be imagined that the horses infallibly found the proper place for the saint’s burial-place; but what is of importance to us is the use of horses on the occasion. In this country however 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 occasion appeared to a fisherman named Wulfgeat, and desired him to announce to duke Æðelwine[[822]], his lord, that it was his 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 diligentius in loco praedicto quomodo noctu fessa terrae sua incumbant animalia, ac ubi taurum surgentem pede dextro viderit percutere terram, ibidem proculdubio xenodochii sciat se aram erigere debere.” Obedient to the order, duke Æðelwine 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 iacere prospexit. Et sicut quondam sancto Clementi agnus pede dextro locum fontis, sic viro isti taurus terram pede percutiendo locum mensae futuri arcisterii significavit divinitus[[823]].” 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 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 Beówulf[[824]], where Hróðgár, warning Beówulf of the frail tenure of human life, adds, “eágena bearhtm,” the glance of eyes, to the many dangers the warrior had to fear:
| Nú is ðínes mægnes blæd áne hwíle, eft sona bið ðæt ðec adl oððe ecg eafoðes getwǽfeð, oððe fýres feng, oððe flódes wylm, oððe grípe meces, oððe gáres fliht oððe atol yldo, oððe eágena bearhtm, forsitteð and forsworceð. | 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 following words: “a species of witchcraft, the perpetrators of which were called vultivoli, and are thus described by John of Salisbury: Qui ad affectus hominum immutandos, in molliori materia, cera forte vel limo, eorum quos pervertere nituntur effigies exprimunt[[825]]. To this superstition Virgil alludes:
“Limus ut hic durescit, et haec ut cera liquescit,
Uno eodemque igni, sic nostro Daphnis amore.
“Of the practice of this superstition, both in England and Scotland, many instances are to be met with; among the most remarkable, that of Eleanor Cobham, duchess of Gloucester, and Stacey, servant to George Duke of Clarence[[826]].”
But it seems to include also the practising against the life of an enemy by means of a waxen or other figure, in which pins were stuck, or against which a sharp bolt was shot.[shot.] It is against this crime that the law of Henry the First enacts[[827]]: “Si quis veneno, vel sortilegio, vel invultuacione, seu maleficio aliquo, faciat homicidium, sive illi paratum sit sive alii, nihil refert, quin factum mortiferum, et nullo modo redimendum sit:” and this is perhaps also intended by the word liblác used by Æðelstân[[828]]. It is also probable that this was the crime for which in the tenth century a widow was put to death by drowning at London Bridge, and her property forfeited to the crown[[829]]. Anglosaxon homilies however also mention philtres of various kinds, which the people are warned against as dangerous and damnable heathendom.
Such are the fragments of a system which at one time fed the religious yearnings and propped the moral faith of our forefathers,—faint notes from a chorus of triumphant jubilation which once rose to heaven from every corner of the island.
How shall we characterize it? As a dull and debasing Fetish-worship, worthy of African savages? or as a vague and colourless Pantheism, in which religion vanishes away, and philosophy gropes for a basis which it cannot find? I think not.